Fallacy(2): Slippery Slope急剧下滑

Also Known as: The Camel's Nose.

Description of Slippery Slope

The Slippery Slope is a fallacy in which a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another without any argument for the inevitability of the event in question. In most cases, there are a series of steps or gradations between one event and the one in question and no reason is given as to why the intervening steps or gradations will simply be bypassed. This "argument" has the following form:

   1. Event X has occurred (or will or might occur).

   2. Therefore event Y will inevitably happen.

急剧下滑谬误是指一个人声称一些事情必然会随着令一件事情的发生而发生，但是并没有对该必然性进行证明。在大多数情况下，这两件事情之间并 不存在必然联系，他们之间还有一系列的步骤或阶段性变化。并没有给出原因为什么这之间的步骤或阶段可以简略地略过。

事件X已经发生（或将要发生或可能发生）。所以事件Y肯定会发生。

This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because there is no reason to believe that one event must inevitably follow from another without an argument for such a claim. This is especially clear in cases in which there are a significant number of steps or gradations between one event and another.

这种论证过程是谬误的。因为当缺少论证的时 候，并没有道理去相信一件时间必然会跟随另一件事情的发生而发生，尤其是这两件事情之间还有相当多的阶段或步骤。

Examples of Slippery Slope

   1. "We have to stop the tuition increase! The next thing you know, they'll be charging $40,000 a semester!"

我们必须停止学费的增长，否则他们将要收取40，000美元一学 期。（学费的增长与40，000美元一学期之间还有一段过程）

   2. You should never gamble. Once you start gambling you find it hard to stop. Soon you are spending all your money on gambling, and eventually you will turn to crime to support your earnings.

你不能去赌博。一旦你开始赌博。你会发现你 很难去停止。然后你会很快花光你的积蓄去赌博，最终你会走向犯罪。

（一开始看这段话，觉得挺有道理的。但是开始赌博，到花光积蓄，到走向犯罪。之间还有很多阶段。在开始赌博到犯罪之间有很长一段过程是可以 阻止赌徒走向犯罪道路的。另外，这里的gambling是ambiguous的，是指和亲朋好友搓麻将还是指去澳门或拉斯维加斯这些赌场去豪赌。这里的歧义会影响你对结论的接 受度。）

3. If I make an exception for you then I have to make an exception for everyone.

如果我为你开了特例，那么我就要为所有人开特例。（这个话非常耳熟。一直觉得没有什么问题。）

Proof: Identify the proposition being refuted and identify the final event in the series of events. Then show that this final event need not occur as a consequence of the proposition.

应对方法：指出被驳斥的前提条件和一系列事 情中的最后的结果。然后说明这个最后的结果并不一定会因为这个前提条件而会发生。

生活中这样的例子很多，如果有好玩的例子～请与我分享～

文章的脚注信息由WordPress的wp-posturl插件自动生成

Evernote lets you save all the interesting things you see online into a single place. Access all those saved pages from your computer, phone or the web. Sign up now or learn more. It's free!