Slippery Slope
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(removed hyphen (no hyphen after adverb ending in -ly in attributive phrases); lower-case in "camel's nose fallacy")
(removed hyphen (no hyphen after adverb ending in -ly in attributive phrases); lower-case in "camel's nose fallacy")
Latest revision as of 10:42, 19 June 2009
The Slippery Slope is a very commonly employed logical fallacy that implies that if a particular action is taken, a series of increasingly unacceptable consequences will follow.
This fallacy is also known as the "camel's nose fallacy". There is an old saying about how if you allow a camel to poke its nose into the tent, soon the whole camel will follow.
The fallacy here is the assumption that something is wrong because it is right next to something that is wrong. Or, it is wrong because it could slide towards something that is wrong.
The problem is that there is often no specific causal relationship between these items.
Examples:
- If we allow cannabis to be decriminalized, they'll be legalizing heroin next!
- "Allowing abortion in the first week of pregnancy would lead to allowing it in the ninth month."
- "If I make an exception for you then I'll have to make an exception for everyone."
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