The Hidden Logic of Slippery Slope Arguments

Philosophy and Rhetoric 22 (1):59 - 70 (1989)
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Abstract

The argument from incremental differences among objects with indefinite property-Complement demarcations arranged along a continuum is known classically as the sorites or slippery slope fallacy. The inferences are typically unsound, And may contain structural logical defects, Though the precise source of error is the subject of wide-Ranging philosophical dispute. In this treatment, Slippery slopes are reduced to a single category of logically valid (but sometimes unsound) conditional chains of hypothetical syllogism. The analysis provides a framework for distinguishing between unsound slippery slope sophisms, And logically valid semantically sound slippery slope arguments

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