Slippery slope — English definition
Claiming one small step will inevitably lead to an extreme outcome, without proving the chain.
Where it is taught
- Logical Fallacies — Argument, Rhetoric & Tragic Choices, English 10: Choices, Conscience & Consequences, Grade 10
In use
A slippery slope insists that one modest step must trigger an unstoppable chain to some disaster — 'if we let students retake one test, soon no one will study for anything ever again' — without offering any evidence that each link in that chain actually follows from the one before.
Logical Fallacies
Questions using slippery slope
Problem 1
Answer and explanation
A slippery slope becomes a fallacy when the chain of consequences is simply asserted, with no evidence that each step actually leads to the next. A legitimate warning provides evidence or a plausible mechanism showing why the chain is likely — for example, past cases where the same step did lead to the outcome. The presence of real support for the links, rather than just fear of the endpoint, is what separates a sound warning from the fallacy.