Project 1

Transcript

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Fun with Fallacies

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Episode 1: The Slippery Slope

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But James, What is the Slippery Slope Fallacy?

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According to the Texas State University Department of Philosophy

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1) A course of action is rejected because, with little or no evidence, one insists that it will lead to a chain reaction resulting in an undesirable end or ends. 2) The Slippery Slope involves an acceptance of a succession of events without direct evidence that this course of events will happen.

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WHAT does that mean?

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Simply put, a Slippery Slope takes an assumption...

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and makes leaps in logic to support the end results

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Why would anyone do that?

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Many reasons... let's explore a few of them

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If I allow you to retake the test...

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Then EVERYONE is going to want to redo every assignment in this class

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By assuming that this is not a one time event, the instructor fails to recognize there could be extenuating circumstances.

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Now, this COULD end up true, but that is unknown at the time of the argument.

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If you keep giving in every time the baby cries or throws a fit, he will end up in prison because we never set limits.

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Wait a second.... what happened here...

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This leap in logic is probably missing a few essential steps in confirming the impending felony-status of the 2 year old who wants a cookie.

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So how do you stop someone from using Slippery Slope Fallacies?

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To be honest, you can't...

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But you can make sure you can back up your responses.

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To avoid a slippery slope,

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Ensure your arguments have a clear, logical path... from Cause to End Results

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Like A causes B causes C causes D,etc

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Becoming aware of our fallacies, we can ensure...

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We strive to never use these fallacies in the future

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and we learn how to gently oppose those who do

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Because knowing is half the battle....

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My thanks to those who helped show my own fallacies and Sheldon Cooper, who's Fun with Flags I borrowed this from.