PHIL 2003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Slippery Slope, Logical Form, First-Order Logic
25 May 2016
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Appeal to ignorance: the fallacy of arguing for a conclusion merely on the basis of a premise to the effect that it has not been disproven. No one"s yet been able to disprove it. No one"s yet been able to provide a compelling proof for god"s existence. The recent effort to establish a significant connection between salt intake and hypertension has failed. So, let"s face it: contrary to the currently popular view, there is no significant connection between salt intake and hypertension. Slippery slope: the fallacy of arguing for a probable link between two events by appeal to premises about a series of intermediate, merely probable links. The trouble with slippery slope reasoning is that the more merely probable links are included in the series, the lower the overall probability of the series. If that candidate is elected, she will probably increase redistributive taxation.
