Research Catalog

Title

Slippery slope arguments / Douglas Walton.

Author

Walton, Douglas N.

Publication

Oxford [England] : Clarendon Press ; Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1992.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xi, 296 pages : illustrations; 23 cm

Summary

A 'slippery slope argument' is a kind of argument which warns you that, if you take a first step, you will find yourself caught up in a sequence of consequences from which you will be unable to extricate yourself, and that eventually you will end up speeding ever faster towards some disastrous outcome. Many textbooks on informal logic and critical thinking treat the slippery slope argument as a fallacy. Douglas Walton argues that slippery slope arguments can be used correctly in some cases as a reasonable type of argument to shift a burden of proof in a critical discussion, while in other cases they are used incorrectly. In the four central chapters he identifies and analyses four types of slippery slope argument. In each chapter he presents guidelines that show how each type of slippery slope argument can be used correctly or incorrectly, using over fifty case studies of argumentation on controversial issues. These include abortion, medical research on human embryos, euthanasia, the decriminalization of marijuana, pornography and censorship, and whether or not the burning of the American flag should be banned.

Series Statement

The Clarendon library of logic and philosophy

Uniform Title

Clarendon library of logic and philosophy

Subject

• Fallacies (Logic)
• Ethics
• Ethics
• ethics (philosophy)
• Argumentation
• Fehlschluss
• Kettingredeneringen
• Drogredenen
• Argumentatieleer

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [283]-287) and index.

Contents

1. Introduction and Perspectives. 1. The Three Basic Types of Slippery Slope Argument. 2. The Combined or Full Version. 3. Four Previous Developments. 4. Summary of Main Theses. 5. The Pragmatic Perspective on Arguments. 6. Stages of Argumentative Dialogue. 7. Fallacies as Sophistical Refutations. 8. The Tip of the Iceberg Theory. 9. The Language of Fallacies. 10. A New Theory of Fallacy -- 2. The Sorites Slippery Slope Argument. 1. Ancient Origins: The Heap and the Bald Man. 2. The Sorites Paradox. 3. The Practical Problem of the Use of the Sorites Argument. 4. Verbal Disputes and Vague Concepts: The Abortion Case. 5. Modus Operandi of the Sorites Slippery Slope. 6. Argumentation Scheme for the Sorites Slippery Slope. 7. Appropriate Critical Questions. 8. Precise Definition and Arbitrariness. 9. What Is the Fallacy? 10. Rights in Using Vague Terms and Proposing Definitions in a Discussion -- 3. The Causal Slippery Slope Argument. 1. The Textbook Accounts. 2. Dependency on Empirical Evidence. 3. Cases of Drug Addiction. 4. Practical Reasoning. 5. Argumentation Scheme for the Causal Slippery Slope. 6. Critical Questions for the Causal Slippery Slope. 7. Fallacy or Weak Argument? 8. Does the Causal Slippery Slope Fallacy Exist? 9. Classification Problems. 10. Rethinking the Causal Slippery Slope -- 4. The Precedent Slippery Slope Argument. 1. Precedents in Argumentation. 2. Varieties of Precedent Slopes. 3. Fallacious or Not? 4. Case-Based Reasoning. 5. Ad Hominem Circumstantial Inconsistency. 6. Personal Circumstances and Actions. 7. Rebutting Arguments from Case-to-Case Inconsistency. 8. Exceptions to the Rule. 9. Antecedent Climate of Opinion. 10. Argumentation Scheme for the Precedent Slippery Slope -- 5. The Full Slippery Slope Argument. 1. Two Classic Cases of Euthanasia. 2. A Case of Pornography and Censorship. 3. The Short Form. 4. Techniques of Attack. 5. The Public Acceptance Premise. 6. Feedback and Circular Reasoning. 7. Ad Populum and Ad Baculum Arguments. 8. The Argument from Popularity. 9. Argumentation Scheme for the Full Slippery Slope. 10. Critical Questions for the Full Slippery Slope -- 6. Analysis of the Dialectical Structure of Slippery Slope Arguments. 1. The Six Basic Characteristics. 2. The Argument from Gradualism. 3. Slippery Slope as a Gradualistic Argument. 4. Presumptive Conditionals. 5. Presumptive Argumentation. 6. The Composite Nature of Slippery Slope. 7. The Forwards and Backwards Movement. 8. The Mechanism of the Movement. 9. When Is a Slippery Slope Argument Fallacious? 10. A New Approach Opened Up -- 7. Practical Advice on Tactics. 1. Effective Refutation. 2. The Framework of Practical Reasoning. 3. The Tactical Framework. 4. The Prisoners' Voting Case. 5. Six Tactics to Counter a Slippery Slope. 6. Applying the First Tactic. 7. The Case of Texas v. Johnson. 8. Public Reaction in the Flag-Burning Case. 9. Pinning the Fallacy Down. 10. Underlying Structural Characteristics.

ISBN

• 0198239254
• 9780198239253

LCCN

91023498

OCLC

• ocm24067381
• 24067381
• SCSB-9572462

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library