4 ms·

Is it still a strawman if you don't have an opponent?

• swombat 16y ago
  That's sort of the whole point. A strawman argument is one where you make up an opponent to better knock it down. "Yes, did you see that man? I just knocked him down good!"
  • rbarooah 16y ago
    I thought a strawman was a rhetorical device where you make up a weak version of your opponents argument and knock that down as a way of winning an argument in the eyes an audience who doesn't spot the flaw you introduced.
    • msbarnett 16y ago
      A strawman argument is one which you specifically constructed for the purposes of knocking it down. A strawman fallacy is a fallacy in which you replace your opponent's actual argument with a strawman argument, and then assert that defeating the strawman argument defeats the opponent.