As its name suggests, the slippery slope fallacy leads an argument through a chain of events that the arguer suggests will lead to an undesirable outcome with little or no evidence to back it up.
posit that one action will lead to a chain of reactions with increasingly more extreme outcomes. A minor action now will cause a major action later.
For example, if I allow my child to stay up past their bedtime tonight then they will never learn to go to bed at a reasonable hour.blur the lines between related issues, and posit that if there is no discernible difference between two topics then reasoning allows us to make leaps in judgment between different arguments -- i.e., we can respond to two different claims or scenarios as if they're the same.
For example, if abortion is allowed only in the event of a medical emergency, then it will be expected that all unwanted pregnancies will inevitably be terminated via abortion.In a nutshell, a slippery slope starts with a seemingly small action that will supposedly lead to an extreme, worst-case result. To combat this fallacy, we must first start at the first point in this chain of events.
The Snopes editorial team has been fact-checking claims centered on logical fallacies for decades. Below are examples of the slippery slope fallacy that we've previously investigated:
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Snopestionary: The 'Ad Hominem' Logical FallacyThis type of logical fallacy is characterized by irrelevant name-calling or attacks on the person, their actions, or their character, instead of their argument.
Read more »
Snopestionary: The 'Ad Hominem' Logical FallacyThis type of logical fallacy is characterized by irrelevant name-calling or attacks on the person, their actions, or their character, instead of their argument.
Read more »
An Antivax Dog Whistle Goes ViralOn the latest What Next TBD: How do you educate the public when misinformation travels across social media six times faster than the truth?
Read more »
The Nuclear Fallacy: Why Small Modular Reactors Can't Compete With Renewable EnergyWill the small modular nuclear reactor community be able to find an optimized point on the physics vs modularity curve? I don't think so.
Read more »
State expects North Slope oil production to be stable, then tick up after 2027Dunleavy administration officials on Wednesday presented an optimistic picture of oil production that they expect to remain steady in coming years and even increase slightly in volume in the late 2020s. via AlaskaBeacon
Read more »