Slippery slope fallacy or slippery slope fallacy

The slippery slope fallacy is an argument that an initial event or action will trigger a series of other events and lead to a result extreme or undesirable. The slippery slope fallacy anticipates this chain of events without offering any evidence to support this claim.

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Cause

The slippery slope fallacy occurs when a person asserts that a relatively small step will lead to a chain of events that result in a drastic change or negative outcome. This statement is called a slippery slope argument.

this is problematic because the person assumes a cause and effect relationship between two or more events or outcomes without knowing for sure how things will turn out. This progression of actions or events is presented as inevitable and unstoppable (much like how one step on a slippery slope will cause one to fall and slide all the way to the bottom). However, little to no evidence is presented to support this claim.

People use the slippery slope fallacy as a rhetorical tool to incite fear or other negative emotions in their audience. It is often used to argue against a specific decision by adopting its extreme (hypothetical) consequences as if they were a certainty. This is a form of alarmism (or emotional appeal) that can be misleading because there is no evidence that these extreme consequences will actually materialize.

However, slippery slope arguments are not always negative or oppositional. It is possible to use the slippery slope argument to argue for a proposal. In this case, they appeal to positive emotions like optimism. For example: “If we give everyone a universal basic income, people will take the risk of starting their own businesses and ultimately become successful entrepreneurs. »

Examples

Causal slippery slope arguments suggest that a minor initial action or event will inevitably lead to a series of others, with each event or action being the cause of the next in the sequence.

“If we lower the voting age to sixteen, then fifteen year olds will want to vote too, and before you know it, babies will vote too!” »

Slippery slope arguments from precedent claim that if we treat a minor matter or problem in a specific way today, we will have to treat any major matter or problem that may arise in the future in the same way.

“If we allow deadline extensions for students who need to prepare for a job interview, then we will have to start allowing that for other non-urgent reasons, like going on vacation. So you might as well get rid of the deadlines, because they don’t mean anything.”

Slippery slope conceptual arguments assume that because we cannot distinguish between adjacent steps, we cannot distinguish between any steps at all.

“There is no essential difference between 199 and 200 grains of sand or between 200 and 201 grains, etc. So there is no difference between 1 grain of sand and 3 billion grains of sand.

Whatever form they take, slippery slope arguments are presented as a series of conditional propositions, such as "if A, then B" and "if C, then D", the idea being that through a series of The intermediate stages, A implies D. they begin with a moderate claim and gradually escalate to an extreme end point with no possibility of stopping in between.

How to Avoid Slippery Slope Mistakes

It's very simple: don't get carried away with your explanations; support all your comments with arguments and supporting evidence. Keep one idea per paragraph as long as to summarize all in one paragraph (or you can get straight to the point in relationships conclusion).

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