Steelmanning
Building the strongest version of a position before criticising it. On Debby it is not a courtesy: a refutation of a weak version proves nothing, and the same cycle must then run a free-rider check so the steelman does not smuggle an unearned exclusion.
Steelmanning is constructing the strongest version of a position before you try to break it. The opposite is a straw man. Debby's method rule is stronger than the internet slogan: steelman first, then — in the same cycle — run a free-rider check, including on Eastern Orthodoxy's own formulations.
In this corpus that is why Ashʿarī kasb is not "Islam equals determinism," why Sher is not "the atheist who forgot about truthmakers," and why a popular TAG→Trinity slide is tested against Lossky's own denial that the Trinity can be deduced. A steelman that quietly drops the rival's best move is just a slower straw man.
The mistaken everyday reading is "be nice" or "agree with everyone." Charity is for accuracy. It does not grant the rival's premises, and it does not mean no answer is wrong.
Sources
- Debby core methodology; research/orthodoxy-contention-ledger.md (ruthless-parity discipline)