A: Don't move to Southern California.
B: Why not?
A: Because going to the beach is your favorite thing to do and if you move to Southern California, you will end up staying there forever.
B: What's wrong with that?
A: Then you will not be able to see your family and friends every day. You will have to make new friends. Those people won't even be as nice as us. Soon you will be stuck down there with people you do not like, looking for a new job, and regretting that you moved.
B: Okay you are right. I'll stay in Northern California instead.
I like the way you explained what slippery slope is and your example was good. It took a while for me to understand this concept. After reading through it several times, it was still a little confusing. Your example was good because you made the false or dubious claim clear by making it obvious. It was easy to see because the claims you made about the beach were just so obviously false. Now that it’s clear to me, I realize that I’ve heard many slippery slope arguments in conversations I’ve had. People pile on claims that are false to try and convince someone that their argument is the correct one.
ReplyDeleteI agree with finchkid that this was a good post. your example was great and made it easier to understand. i had some trouble with this concept because their were so many little things to remember about it. you helped make it more clear by just like finchkid stated previously. you made the claims so blatantly false. Everyone wants to make themselves seem right and this is how they do it. They add on their own claims to make them seem correct when in reality they still are wrong. This was a good post and will help others understand the concept if they take time to read your example.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your example as well. The conditionals person "A" used in your argument seem to follow the chain line of reasoning in made in a slippery slope argument. The explanations regarding this concept were clear and easy to follow. The conversation seemed like one that would really occur and reasoning like this seems to occur with more frequency than we realize. I can imagine that one or more of the conditionals can be false or dubious and that an argument of this sort is weak because of the line of reasoning. Thanks for clearing up the concept and presenting a good example.
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