W7: D1 Reasoning In A Chain & The Slippery Slope

Two things I learned from Chapter 6 are Reasoning In A Chain and The Slippery Slope. 

Reasoning in a chain is a chain of conditionals that go step by step.  An example of reasoning in a chain is:

      If I go to the Britney Spears concert tomorrow, then I won’t be home for dinner.

      If I’m not home for dinner, then my mom won’t have to set a plate for me.

      If my mom doesn’t have to set a plate for me, then she will have fewer dishes to wash.

      So if I go to the Britney Spears concert tomorrow, my mom will have fewer dishes to wash.

It can also be looked at like this:

      If A, then B.  If B, then C.  So if A, then C.              

If A is true, we can confidently conclude C.  This is a valid form of an argument; there is no possible way for its premises to be true and its conclusion false at the same time.

However, a bad form of the reasoning in a chain argument is the slippery slope. The slippery slope argument is a bad argument that also uses a chain of conditionals, but at least one of which is not true or doubtful.  An example of the slippery slope is:

       Don’t eat chocolate! If you do, you’ll get addicted.  Then you won’t be able to stop buying chocolate.     Then you’ll run out of money.  Then you’ll become a bum on the streets and be a disappointment to your whole family!

I find that the slippery slope is definitely not a good argument but it is a rather funny one.  I hear this type of argument all the time in movies and it is just used to exaggerate someone’s worries or thoughts.