Actual Discussion

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(Open-Ended) I feel like "slippery slope" isn't actually a logical fallacy, people just use that as an excuse to dismiss valid concerns. You? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

So you’re absolutely correct in saying that not all slippery-slope arguments are fallacies, it just takes logic in between, and that’s something a lot of people struggle with.

This is the problem with the fallacy-touting crowd. They only partially understand what the fallacy actually is. Not all, as you pointed out, slippery slope arguments are fallacious, but if you make a sound slippery slope some "fallacy expert" will chime in and trumpet how bad your argument is because they only half-spotted the pattern.

In a similar vein, personal abuse is not the ad hominem fallacy. And an ad hominem argument is also not automatically fallacious. Examples:

You're wrong, you piece of shit, because of . (Uncouth, yes, but not the ad hominem fallacy.)
"My client claims he didn't attack you." "Of course he does! He'd be an idiot to admit he did!" (An ad hominem argument, but not the ad hominem fallacy.)
You're wrong because you're a Nazi. (An actual ad hominem fallacy! You can find this particular one in the wild ... pretty much Internet-wide.)

I once thought I was clever by coining the term "fallacy fallacy" for dealing with the mouth-breathers who screech "FALLACY!!!" while flapping their arms wildly as if attempting to launch themselves to the moon. Unfortunately I was beaten to the punch by decades.