Практика Shadowing: Why you should "steel man" other people - Изучайте разговорный английский по видео

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A straw man is when you simplify or exaggerate somebody's position to make it an easier target.

It's a target that you can then bat down with adversarial ease.

For example, if an atheist says that Christianity is just worshipping some bearded man in the sky, that is a straw man,

because I've yet to meet a Christian who would accept that as a representation of their religion.

Of course, if a Christian then says

that an atheist is somebody who does not believe in anything at all

or that life has no meaning or that we can just do anything that is also quite likely a straw man.

The problem with a straw man argument is

that not only does it not address somebody's actual points but it poisons the entire debate.

It's a kind of bad faith argument that sees conversations as a brawl

and that truth is just one weapon in the arsenal in a war to win at all costs.

But there is a better way.

The opposite of a straw man is a steel man.

This is where you not only try to represent somebody's position as faithfully as you can and with respect, but you do so in the best possible light.

You spend a great deal of attention double-checking that what you think somebody's position is, is what that person is actually trying to argue.

A great example of this in action, I think, is Alex O'Connor.

I've yet to see a video of his where he willfully

misrepresent an argument just to make it an easier position to attack.

In fact, he'll often spend a great deal of time trying to reach a mutual understanding of the position

and only then will he criticise it and only then will he do so politely.

In my experience, if you take the time to actually inquire about what somebody actually believes, you'll find a far greater nuance and often far greater agreement than you might have thought at the start.

For example, only the most dastardly and venal of politicians are actually doing it for themselves.

I think that most politicians want to make society and the world at least a bit better.

It's just that the right and the left-wing arguments about how to do that will differ.

It's long been pointed out that calling your political opponents the enemy

or evil or idiotic without saying what that means is not only childish, but it's bad for philosophy, it's bad for democracy, and it's bad for politics.

In his 2013 book, Intuition, Pumps, and Other Tools, the philosopher Daniel Dennett laid out four rules, one of which sounds remarkably like a steel man.

These are rules for a good debate, and this is what they are.

First and most important is that you should attempt to express your target's position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says things like,

well, I wish I had put it like that as well.

For example, if somebody says to you that social media is inherently evil, you can say to them, well, do you mean that there is some content that is addictive

and dangerous and that young people especially shouldn't be expected to resist that addiction as much as adults?

Second, you should list all of the ways that you and your opponent agree on things.

You might say that, yes, okay, we both agree that there are aspects of social media that are dangerous, that we should have greater regulation and that the conversation should focus mostly on young people.

Third, you might recognize the ways in which your partner has taught you something new.

For example, you might say, oh, I didn't know that people today are on average on social media two hours a day.

Fourth and finally, only then after all of this can you go on to then try and criticize or reject that position.

You might say, I don't actually think that we should ban all social media.

In Plato's dialogues, you'll often see Socrates lining up his opponents with a steel man argument.

A huge part of the dialogue involves Socrates clarifying, laying out and even strengthening the other person's position.

For example, in the Gorgias, Socrates pauses and reframes Callicles' position about strength and domination, often making it sound more coherent than Callicles himself.

In Republic, when his opponent argues that justice is nothing more than the interests of the strongest, Socrates doesn't caricature it or simplify the idea.

Instead, he builds it up into the best version of itself, before then showing why it might be wrong.

Debates today are often about trying to grab the six o'clock headlines or ride the viral wave with an entertaining gotcha moment.

But the Socratic method was about understanding fully before disagreeing deeply because that's the spirit of the steel man.

Of course, Plato's dialogues are not podcast transcripts.

They are fictionalised accounts of Plato's version of Socrates debating Plato's version of his opponents.

But the fact that Plato was so willing to present rival opinions in such a strong and positive light, before then pulling them apart,

reveals just how far we have drifted in what we call a good discussion.

And in fact, this is why Plato was so suspicious about debates.

He called debates stupid and dangerous.

Because according to Plato, debates are very rarely about truth or philosophy.

They are about ego and pride and winning at all costs.

Plato often criticises the sophists who, amongst other things, were professional debaters and they would teach other members of the public how they could win at debates.

They taught people certain tricks and tactics to speak well, how to argue well and how to make the opponent look a bit silly.

Plato hated these kind of debates

because it reduced philosophy to a competition where both parties would try to outwit

and outspeak each other in a kind of game.

The Greeks called it heuristic and the heuristic debater would appeal to the audience.

They would mock their opponents.

They would resort to any fallacious argument they could so long as it meant they could win.

Plato thought that these debates were not just some harmless fun

because the big problem with heuristic is that those who are watching the debate confuse the winner with the truth.

But just because somebody has won a debate through wit and professional tactics doesn't necessarily mean that they are right.

For Plato, truth and philosophy is a much longer collaborative and dialectic process.

In many ways, the problem of strawmanning and ridiculing invented beliefs will not go away.

Point scoring and cheering to the crowd were present in ancient Greece

and they are here in modern primetime TV debates as well.

But the steel man is something

that we can try to bring back into everyday conversations with the people we interact with weekly.

Because what Plato and Dennett both knew is that if you are to actually grow in your beliefs, you have to see debate as a constructive act and with good intentions.

Debates are not adversarial opportunities to make your opponent look like an idiot.

They are opportunities to become better and to grow.

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Лексика и советы по произношению к этому уроку

В этом видео 73 предложений и 1211 слов для шедоуинга. Речь длится 6:27. Говорящий говорит быстро, около 188 слов в минуту, поэтому звуки часто сливаются и сокращаются. 82% слов входят в 3000 самых частых слов английского языка; остальные стоит разобрать перед занятием.

Ключевая лексика этого видео

15 слов из видео, которые стоит выучить, с произношением и значением:

Слово	Произношение	Значение
opponent существительное	/əˈpəʊ.nənt/	проти́вник, проти́вница
straw существительное	/stɹɔ/	соло́мина, соло́минка
argue глагол	/ˈɑɹ.ɡju/	спо́рить, обсужда́ть
dialogue существительное	/ˈdaɪəˌlɑɡ/	диало́г, разгово́р
belief существительное	/bɪˈliːf/	ве́ра, дове́рие
tactics существительное	/ˈtæktɪks/	та́ктика
politician существительное	/ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/	поли́тик, полити́ческий де́ятель
criticize глагол	/ˈkɹɪtɪsaɪz/	критикова́ть, раскритикова́ть
atheist существительное	/ˈeɪ.θi.ɪst/	атеи́ст, атеи́стка
necessarily наречие	/ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/	обяза́тельно
trick существительное	/ˈtɹɪk/	обма́н, трюк
everyday прилагательное	/ˈɛvɹiˌdeɪ/	повседне́вный, ежедне́вный
deeply наречие	/ˈdi(ː)pli/	глубоко́
reveal глагол	/ɹɪˈviːl/	выявля́ть, раскрыва́ть
rarely наречие	/ˈɹɛəɹli/	ре́дко, нечасто

Фразовые глаголы, которые вы услышите

Слово	Значение
go away глагол	уходи́ть, уйти́
point out глагол	ука́зывать, указа́ть

Произношение, на которое стоит обратить внимание

Говорящий использует 10 сокращённых и редуцированных форм, например doesn't, I've, you'll. Произносите их коротко, так, как слышите.

Звуки «th»: atheist /ˈeɪ.θi.ɪst/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/, faithfully /ˈfeɪθfəli/
Звуки «sh» и «zh»: politician /ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/, representation /ˌɹɛp.ɹə.zɛnˈteɪ.ʃən/, worship /ˈwɝ.ʃɪp/, addiction /əˈdɪkˌʃən/
Длинные слова — следите за ударением: politician /ˌpɑ.ləˈtɪʃ.ən/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/, representation /ˌɹɛp.ɹə.zɛnˈteɪ.ʃən/, collaborative /kəˈlæb.ə.ɹə.tɪv/

Как заниматься с этим видео

Прослушайте всё видео один раз молча и выпишите незнакомые слова.
Начните со скорости 0,75×, повторяйте предложение за предложением и вернитесь к обычной скорости, когда станет легко.
Запишите себя и сравните с оригиналом, обращая внимание на такие слова, как opponent, straw, argue.

Грамматика в этом видео

Конструкции, которые говорящий использует чаще всего, с точными словами из видео:

Конструкция	В видео
Present Perfect have/has + причастие прошедшего времени — прошлое действие, важное сейчас	has taught · have drifted · has won
Пассивный залог be + причастие прошедшего времени — важно, что происходит, а не кто это делает	been pointed · be expected · are fictionalised
Придаточные определительные who / which + предложение — уточнение о человеке или предмете	somebody who does · those who are

Что такое техника Shadowing?

Shadowing — это научно обоснованная техника изучения языка, изначально разработанная для подготовки профессиональных переводчиков и популяризированная полиглотом доктором Александром Аргуэльесом. Метод прост, но эффективен: вы слушаете аудио на английском от носителей языка и немедленно повторяете вслух — как тень, следующая за говорящим с задержкой в 1–2 секунды. В отличие от пассивного прослушивания или грамматических упражнений, Shadowing заставляет мозг и мышцы рта одновременно обрабатывать и воспроизводить реальные речевые паттерны. Исследования показывают, что это значительно улучшает точность произношения, интонацию, ритм, связную речь, понимание на слух и беглость речи — что делает его одним из самых эффективных методов для подготовки к IELTS Speaking и реального общения на английском.

Техника шедоуинга: читать полное пошаговое руководство →

Практика Shadowing: Why you should "steel man" other people - Изучайте разговорный английский по видео

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