{"id":3249,"date":"2012-06-29T21:15:47","date_gmt":"2012-06-30T02:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/?p=3249"},"modified":"2012-06-29T21:15:47","modified_gmt":"2012-06-30T02:15:47","slug":"philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/","title":{"rendered":"Philosophy Fridays: Slippery Slopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"philosophy\"<\/p>\n

Every now and then, on a Friday, I\u2019ll step into the deep waters of Philosophy, ramble away on some idea and maybe even interact with something I might be reading. Most of the time, a real philosopher could probably read my drivel and speak into it offering a corrective\u2014but for now I\u2019ll speak from ignorance. After all, it is Friday; what better way to have fun than with philosophy. In this post I\u2019ll answer the question \u201cAre slippery slope arguments always fallacious?\u201d\u00a0 in under 700 words. Heh.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What is it anyway? This is how The Nizkor Project<\/a> defines it.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Event X (or might) occur(s)<\/li>\n
  2. Therefore event Y will inevitably happen.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This is clearer, they say, when there are a bunch of steps between (A) and (B).<\/p>\n

    But then is that always true? Is it fallacious to point to a Rube Goldberg machine and say that dropping this dime will inevitably lead to that umbrella popping the balloon? So a real causal chain would render it non-fallacious.<\/p>\n

    Csun.edu<\/a> has a similar definition but they admit that the argument isn\u2019t always a fallacy.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Accepting one policy or action occurs.<\/li>\n
    2. Therefore a series of policies or actions will occur.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      They point out that this can be made valid by giving a reason why (A) leads to (B). So here, they\u2019d want a visible causal chain between (A) and (B) but why does that have to be the case? I know when I hit this button, Mario jumps but I don\u2019t see any of the processes behind it. Indeed, I\u2019m still warranted in thinking that my action causes Mario to jump.<\/p>\n

      Valepress<\/a> lists four types of slippery slope arguments (with an unfortunate of word count):<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Action A gives precedent<\/em> for future action B.<\/li>\n
      2. The argument employs a lack of cutoff point. Accepting A isn\u2019t distinguished from B.<\/li>\n
      3. Action A is causally linked to Action B.<\/li>\n
      4. The argument combines (a), (b) and (c).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        And, they admit, sometimes it\u2019s a fallacy and sometimes it isn\u2019t; that seems to underscore some of the problems I\u2019m wrestling with here. After all, the domino effect in (c) isn\u2019t fallacious if there really is a domino effect (obviously causal chain).\u00a0 And (b) seems to have merit in legal systems as follows.<\/p>\n

        Eugene Volokh<\/a>\u00a0(pdf warning and I’d also suggest his conclusions are off) points out that that slippery slope is a proper concern in a legal system that has historically shown slippage. One court makes a legal decision with tight distinctions, sometime later a new court uses that previous decision as precedence without any of the distinctions made in the previous court, to make a new decision.<\/p>\n

        So here\u2019s Volokh on something he references as a classical Slippery Slope Argument which sounds a lot like (a) and (b) but not (c) above.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Unopposed\u00a0 legal Action A (which isn\u2019t that bad or even moderately good)<\/li>\n
        2. Increases the likelihood of a supposedly much worse legal action B.<\/li>\n
        3. (Psychology) A and B are distinguishable now but parties might not distinguish them later.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          But, let\u2019s say that someone argues if you keep playing in the street you\u2019re going to get killed by a vehicle. Depending on the street, the action of playing in the street creates an environment that one can be killed by a vehicle, but if it\u2019s some seldom used dirt road out in Middle of Nowhere then this seems pretty unlikely.<\/p>\n

          Maybe when action (A) creates an environment that gives precedence<\/em> for future action (B) where (B) is plausible<\/em>, the slippery slope argument has warrant.<\/p>\n

          But here \u00a0(A)-Opposers might point out (B) isn\u2019t plausible now. But that still doesn\u2019t render the argument fallacious since (B) need only be plausible in the environment of (A). Landing a six on die (B) isn\u2019t plausible if there are no dice, but it is rightly within the realm of probability once the die is thrown (A).<\/p>\n

          So are slippery slope arguments always fallacious? Nope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Every now and then, on a Friday, I\u2019ll step into the deep waters of Philosophy, ramble away on some idea and maybe even interact with something I might be reading. Most of the time, a real philosopher could probably read my drivel and speak into it offering a corrective\u2014but for now I\u2019ll speak from ignorance. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[339],"tags":[797,428,796],"class_list":["post-3249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy","tag-dominos","tag-philosophy-fridays","tag-slippery-slopes"],"yoast_head":"\nPhilosophy Fridays: Slippery Slopes - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philosophy Fridays: Slippery Slopes - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every now and then, on a Friday, I\u2019ll step into the deep waters of Philosophy, ramble away on some idea and maybe even interact with something I might be reading. Most of the time, a real philosopher could probably read my drivel and speak into it offering a corrective\u2014but for now I\u2019ll speak from ignorance. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-30T02:15:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/featured-images\/philosophy.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"rey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\"},\"headline\":\"Philosophy Fridays: Slippery Slopes\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-30T02:15:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":677,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/gallery\\\/featured-images\\\/philosophy.png\",\"keywords\":[\"dominos\",\"philosophy fridays\",\"slippery slopes\"],\"articleSection\":[\"philosophy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Philosophy Fridays: Slippery Slopes - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/gallery\\\/featured-images\\\/philosophy.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-30T02:15:47+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/gallery\\\/featured-images\\\/philosophy.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/gallery\\\/featured-images\\\/philosophy.png\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rey Reynoso and The Bible Archive\",\"description\":\"Notes and Thoughts from An Unabashedly Plymouth Brethren Blogger\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa\",\"name\":\"rey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\",\"width\":\"1000\",\"height\":\"288\",\"caption\":\"rey\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.biblearchive.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/reyreynoso\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/reybeez\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/biblearchive.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/biblerey\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Philosophy Fridays: Slippery Slopes - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Philosophy Fridays: Slippery Slopes - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","og_description":"Every now and then, on a Friday, I\u2019ll step into the deep waters of Philosophy, ramble away on some idea and maybe even interact with something I might be reading. Most of the time, a real philosopher could probably read my drivel and speak into it offering a corrective\u2014but for now I\u2019ll speak from ignorance. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/","og_site_name":"Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso","article_published_time":"2012-06-30T02:15:47+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/featured-images\/philosophy.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"rey","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rey","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/"},"author":{"name":"rey","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa"},"headline":"Philosophy Fridays: Slippery Slopes","datePublished":"2012-06-30T02:15:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/"},"wordCount":677,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/featured-images\/philosophy.png","keywords":["dominos","philosophy fridays","slippery slopes"],"articleSection":["philosophy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/","url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/","name":"Philosophy Fridays: Slippery Slopes - Rey Reynoso's Bible Archive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/featured-images\/philosophy.png","datePublished":"2012-06-30T02:15:47+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/philosophy-fridays-slippery-slopes\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/featured-images\/philosophy.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/featured-images\/philosophy.png"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/","name":"Rey Reynoso and The Bible Archive","description":"Notes and Thoughts from An Unabashedly Plymouth Brethren Blogger","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e8c55a4aab6df13bed13eae5edfab9aa","name":"rey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1","width":"1000","height":"288","caption":"rey"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/cropped-tba_banner.jpg?fit=1000%2C288&ssl=1"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.biblearchive.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reyreynoso","https:\/\/x.com\/reybeez"],"url":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/author\/biblerey\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbR50-Qp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblearchive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}