A slippery slope is a rhetorical tactic in which the arguer claims that accepting a modest initial action or policy will inevitably trigger a cascade of increasingly extreme outcomes, without demonstrating the necessary causal links between each step. Its parameters: (1) a proposed starting point that is typically small or reasonable in isolation, (2) a predicted chain of consequences presented as inevitable rather than probable, (3) an absence of evidence for the inevitability of each link in the chain. The persistence mechanism is cultural — the pattern is recognized, named, and deployed in debate, political discourse, and popular reasoning as a warning frame; it persists through teaching, repetition, and the shared linguistic practice of calling out the fallacy. [formal: lapis_lassus | substrate: behavior | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.12]
Accepted ontology entry
slippery slope
A slippery slope is a rhetorical tactic in which the arguer claims that accepting a modest initial action or policy will inevitably trigger a cascade of increasingly extreme outcomes, without demonstrating the necessary causal links betwee…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A rhetorical tactic in argumentation where a speaker claims that a relatively small first step will inevitably lead to a chain of related negative consequences, without providing evidence for the inevitability of that chain. Human-made as a named fallacy and persuasive strategy, it persists through cultural awareness, debate training, and its use as a cautionary framing device in discourse.
Names and aliases
- slippery slopeen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrtnm79k0014plvprodv9fvkINSTANCE_OF →
A slippery slope is a specific kind of rhetorical device — a competent speaker calls it a rhetorical device. Files against the nearest known kind.
- cmrn2b9bk01v9d1nlws1gj4eaINSTANCE_OF →
A slippery slope IS a specific kind of fallacy — an argumentative pattern claiming that a modest first step inevitably triggers a chain of increasingly negative events, without sufficient evidence for that inevitability. The competent-speaker test passes. Which-came-first: fallacy (as a logical category) predates slippery slope (as a named fallacy), consistent with INSTANCE_OF direction.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 21, 2026, 7:58 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 4767d542ceb4620f238d77cbabc0a559ffd4ae5f27396cd8130e8dea6acb769b