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Expand. Oftentimes not used as a fallacious manner.
A "'''slippery slope'''" argument is a common rhetorical device which suggests that a seemingly innocent small action will lead inevitably to a disastrous result. An argument of this form is invalid if there is no necessary logical connection between its premise and its conclusion. Indeed, it barely has any formal structure beyond if p, then q. Whilst it is therefore a [[logical fallacy]], its emotive appeal remains a depressingly effective way of convincing those who don't know their ''modus ponens'' from their elbow. If the conclusion does follow from the premise, then the argument is not a fallacious slippery-slope argument, but instead a ''[[reductio ad absurdum]],'' which is a valid argument.
A "'''slippery slope'''" is, according to ''[[Merriam-Webster]]'', is "a course of action that seems to lead inevitably from one action or result to another with unintended consequences."<ref>[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slippery%20slope Slippery slope]. ''Merriam-Webster''. Retrieved March 29, 2018.</ref> It is often used as a rhetorical device to suggest that a seemingly innocent small action will lead inevitably to a disastrous result.
==Examples==
==As a fallacy==
An argument of this form is invalid if there is no necessary logical connection between its premise and its conclusion. Indeed, it barely has any formal structure beyond if p, then q. Whilst it is therefore a [[logical fallacy]], its emotive appeal remains a depressingly effective way of convincing those who don't know their ''modus ponens'' from their elbow. If the conclusion does follow from the premise, then the argument is not a fallacious slippery-slope argument, but instead a ''[[reductio ad absurdum]],'' which is a valid argument.
===Examples===
*If we allow this increase in administrative fees, soon tuition will double!
*If we allow this increase in administrative fees, soon tuition will double!
*If we don't stop the terrorists in Iraq, they'll invade Maine next!
*If we don't stop the terrorists in Iraq, they'll invade Maine next!
*If we send in 100,000 troops, the next thing you know we'll be in a quagmire like Vietnam!
*If we send in 100,000 troops, the next thing you know we'll be in a quagmire like Vietnam!
*You are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table in your community.... I say that any boob can take and shove a ball in a pocket. And I call that sloth, the first big step on the road to the depths of degraday—I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon, then beer from a bottle! An' the next thing ya know, your son is playin' for money in a pinch-back suit. And list'nin to some big out-a-town Jasper hearin' him tell about horse-race gamblin'. One fine night, they leave the pool hall, headin' for the dance at the Arm'ry! Libertine men and scarlet women, and ragtime, shameless music that'll grab your son and your daughter with the arms of a jungle animal instinct: mass-steria!<ref>Willson, Meredith (1957), "Trouble," from ''The Music Man''</ref>
*You are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table in your community.... I say that any boob can take and shove a ball in a pocket. And I call that sloth, the first big step on the road to the depths of degraday—I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon, then beer from a bottle! An' the next thing ya know, your son is playin' for money in a pinch-back suit. And list'nin to some big out-a-town Jasper hearin' him tell about horse-race gamblin'. One fine night, they leave the pool hall, headin' for the dance at the Arm'ry! Libertine men and scarlet women, and ragtime, shameless music that'll grab your son and your daughter with the arms of a jungle animal instinct: mass-steria!<ref>Willson, Meredith (1957), "Trouble," from ''The Music Man''</ref>
==Usage and history==
==Usage and history==