fandomhigh | Logical Fallacies, Thursday, Period 3

Today there was iced coffee on the desk; it was far too hot for the regular kind. "So, I'm sure that any of you who are familiar with modern politics has heard of the slippery slope argument. It's entirely possible you've heard of it even if you don't follow modern politics. It's a common logical fallacy and such things transcend time and place."

"The slippery slope uses a kind of visual metaphor; once a rock is dropped down the slope, it will keep falling until it hits the bottom. In an argument, this is likened to a single idea or action that, once implemented, will continue to move towards a much bigger, negative conclusion. However, this chain cannot be linked together by facts or logic. For example, in the current debate about same-sex marriage, some politicians against such measures claim that once two people of the same sex are given the right to marry, then we are opening the door to three people marrying, incestuous marriages, and even inter-species marriages." Cindy rolled her eyes a bit. "Regardless of how you feel about the issue at hand, there's no cause for such sloppy and fallacious arguments."

"Not all arguments that suggest one action will lead to another is fallacious. If one can logically prove that Action A will lead to B, and Action B will lead to C, then saying Action A will lead to C is just the transitive property at work. For example, arguing that drinking my coffee will get me caffeinated and being caffeinated will keep me up all night, therefore, drinking my coffee will keep me up all night is accurate, assuming all three arguments were true. If, however, I wasn't particularly susceptible to caffeine and one cup of coffee would not keep me awake, then we're back to the slippery slope. There are several similar techniques; I've included in the handouts for you to look over."

[OCD up and ready!]

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"If th-that is the problem," she said, considering it for a few seconds. "Perhaps then parents must learn to watch their children rather than allowing the television to do it for them."

"Oh, we can't possibly blame the parents," Peter said. "It's never their fault."

His sarcasm was dripping.

Despite herself, she had to smother a giggle. Mirth showed in her eyes though.

"The law could make it their fault," she offered mildly.

"I think we might be getting a little off topic," Peter said.

"Not really," she disagreed mildly. "In o-order for the law to keep children from drinking the law must also ensure that parents are motivated to do so."

"Well, now we're going from law making to law enforcement," Peter said. "And that's a whole different topic."

"You're arguing for the sake of arguing," she said, almost gently. "It is connected and so it is on topic."

"Arguing for the sake of arguing is practically the intention of the class," Peter said. "But if we're going to discuss law enforcement, enforcing privately broken laws for prosecution requires a complete lack of privacy. Meaning Big Brother cameras in every home. And we hardly want that."

He was enjoying the class topic today.

And she was finding him a rather unpleasant fellow, it was true.

"S-So there's details to be worked out," Hinata said. "But there's some things that can be stopped immediately. No alcohol to minors in restaurants with their parents present and s-so on."

"Oh, well that's a different matter," Peter agreed. "In fact, barring the local bar apparently, most places suffer huge consequences if minors are served alcohol on the premises, parents present or not."

"That's a start," she said, with a nod of her head. "And I would say the next logical step would be to then take it to picnic areas and the like but I am unsure how they would enforce that as stringently. I suppose if a child smelt like alcohol upon exiting the area...?"

"I don't think you can criminalize smelling," Peter said. "After all, smelling like alcohol could occur just from an unfortunate spill."

Logical Fallacies, Thursday, Period 3

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