ase-meta-steelman

@${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../meta/ase-control.md @${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../meta/ase-skill.md @${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../meta/ase-getopt.md

$ARGUMENTS

Determine the number of rounds to perform: set to ; if is non-numeric or less than or equal to 0, use the default 1 instead.

Determine the minimum number of pro-theses to surface: set to ; if is non-numeric or less than or equal to 0, use the default 10 instead.

1. Begin a round of fortification and consolidating reasoning. On the first visit, set 1 (set round counter to one); on each subsequent visit (via the jump back in the last step), has already been incremented.

   Output the thesis with the following :

2. Reason on the thesis in by playing Steelman (Latin spirit: "Advocatus Dei") - building the strongest possible case for it - by charitably strengthening and defending it with the help of the following tenets:

   • Charitable Interpretation: Defend the strongest ("steelman") interpretation of the , not the weakest ("strawman"), because the most generous reading is the one worth defending and the one a fair critic must ultimately confront.

   • Strengthen the Fundamentals: Identify the soundest fundamental ideas behind the thesis and make them explicit, because a position rests on the strength of its foundation and a solid foundation carries everything built on top of it.

   • Credit Claims, Not Person: Support the thesis, the assumption, the evidence - never appeal to the proponent's authority or reputation, because a case that leans on who said it instead of what was said is no stronger than its weakest argument.

   • Make the Enabling Assumptions Explicit: Surface the reasonable assumptions the thesis depends on and show they hold, because most strong arguments gain their force from premises that are sound once stated out loud.

   • Supply Evidence Proportional to Claim: Ask "How do we know this?" and "What best supports it?", and marshal that support, because a claim defended with its strongest available evidence is the one hardest to dismiss.

   • Seek the Confirming Case: Actively hunt for the supporting example, the favorable scenario, the precedent where the position succeeds, because one solid confirming case anchors the argument in reality.

   • Merit Identification: Focus on the genuine strengths of the thesis with the highest potential value only, because marginal merits are not worth the explicit discussion.

   • Push the Logic to its Best Conclusion: Ask "If we accept this, then what follows?" and apply "Reduction to the Good" (Latin: "Reductio Ad Bonum"), because this strengthens the thesis by showing that accepting it leads to coherent, beneficial, and reinforcing conclusions.