Maimonides argued that executing a defendant on anything less than absolute certainty would lead to a slippery slope of decreasing burdens of proof, until we would be convicting merely " according to the judge's caprice ".

First, claiming that " basic beliefs " must exist, amounts to the logical fallacy of argument from ignorance combined with the slippery slope.

* Euthanasia and the slippery slope

In debate or rhetoric, a slippery slope ( also known as thin end of the wedge-or sometimes " edge " in US English-or the camel's nose ) is a classic form of argument, arguably an informal fallacy.

The fallacious sense of " slippery slope " is often used synonymously with continuum fallacy, in that it ignores the possibility of middle ground and assumes a discrete transition from category A to category B.

* In the classical form, the arguer suggests that making a move in a particular direction starts something on a path down a " slippery slope ".

The slippery slope argument remains a fallacy if such a chain is not established.

The core of the slippery slope argument is that a specific rule or course of action is likely to result in unintended consequences and that these " unintended consequences " are undesirable ( and, typically, worse than either inaction or another course of remediation ).

This criticisms is a consequentialist criticism-interested in consequences or outcomes or results of a course of action-and does not impugn the character or intentions of the one ( s ) offering the " slippery slope " argument ( s ), the basis or bases or concerns underlying the offering of the arguments against a rule or course of action, nor the legitimacy of arguing against any specific rule or course of action.

A retort invoking the slippery slope could go in two different directions:

By lumping the tenants into one abstract entity, the argument renders itself vulnerable to a slippery slope argument.

The heart of the slippery slope fallacy lies in abusing the intuitively appreciable transitivity of implication, claiming that A leads to B, B leads to C, C leads to D and so on, until one finally claims that A leads to Z.

Slippery slope fallacies occur when this is not done — an argument that supports the relevant premises is not fallacious and thus isn't a slippery slope fallacy.

Often proponents of a " slippery slope " contention propose a long series of intermediate events as the mechanism of connection leading from A to B.

In this sense the slippery slope resembles the genetic fallacy, but in reverse.

As an example of how an appealing slippery slope argument can be unsound, suppose that whenever a tree falls down, it has a 95 % chance of knocking over another tree.

The " slippery slope " approach may also relate to the conjunction fallacy: with a long string of steps leading to an undesirable conclusion, the chance of all the steps actually occurring in sequence is less than the chance of any one of the individual steps occurring alone.

Several common analogies support slippery slope arguments.

The process may involve causal relationships between intermediate events, but in any case the slippery slope schema depends for its soundness on the validity of some analogue for the physical principle of momentum.

For example, the following arguments fit the slippery slope scheme with the inductive interpretation:

This argument instantiates the slippery slope scheme as follows: A < sub > k </ sub > is the situation in which k building permits are issued.

* Fallacy files: slippery slope

Within the medical community, the main ethical issues with organ donation are a misdiagnosis of anencephaly, the slippery slope argument, that anencephalic neonates would rarely be a source of organs, and that it would undermine confidence in organ transplantation.

The two arguments imply there is no difference between the exception and the rule, and in fact fallacious slippery slope arguments often use the converse accident to the contrary as the basis for the argument.

The argument based on the slippery slope argues against medicinal use of marijuana because it will lead to full use.

In particular, Salmon is known for his development and defense of a reductio ad absurdum argument, using a sorites-like problem ( slippery slope ), against nearly universally accepted modal logic systems S4 and S5, which he argues commit " the fallacy of necessity iteration ," sanctioning the invalid inference from the observation that a proposition p is a necessary truth to the conclusion that it is a necessary truth that p is a necessary truth.

Non-voluntary euthanasia is sometimes cited as one of the possible outcomes of the slippery slope argument, in which it is claimed that permitting voluntary euthanasia to occur will lead to the support and legalization of non-voluntary and involuntary euthanasia.

The teeth are adapted for gripping onto slippery prey, and the jaws are relatively powerful.

The rock which forms the cave is often wet, slippery, relatively featureless and often unreachable from the necessary rope locations.

* The potential space between these two layers is the peritoneal cavity ; it is filled with a small amount ( about 50 ml ) of slippery serous fluid that allows the two layers to slide freely over each other.

A cherry pit, the pit of a cherry, is very small, about the size of a front tooth, and is very slippery when first removed from the cherry, making it easy to spit.

There is great difficulty in getting out of a trench, especially for small men laden with a pack, rifle and perhaps 50 rounds in the pouch, and a bandolier of 50 rounds hung around them, and perhaps four feet of slippery clay perpendicular wall with sandbags on the top.

A skyhook is a piece of climbing equipment, a very small hook which gives hold on small protrusions or watery and slippery grips.

The tench has very small scales, which are deeply imbedded in a thick skin, making it as slippery as an eel.

However, like all tree frogs they possess small pads on the tips of their toes which help them adhere to moistened or slippery surfaces.

In farriery, it is welded to the underside of the horseshoe, either in one or more small areas (" pads " or " puddles "), or in a thin line round the front edge, in order to improve traction of the hoof on slippery surfaces such as roads or ice.

If the decision goes wrong, it may be -- as Mr. Stevenson fears -- `` the first step on the slippery path downhill '' to a U.N. without operational responsibilities and without effective meaning.

“ Not, Parenti stresses, by making slippery usage of concepts like the ‘ prison – industrial complex .’ Simply put, the scale of spending on prisons, though growing rapidly, will never match the military budget ; nor will prisons produce anywhere near the same ‘ technological and industrial spin-off .’“ Others argue that while prison reform is necessary, economic reform through equality for people of color is first necessary before real change can be realized.

The newest replacement kits, however, use double-sided tape with a water-activated adhesive that is slippery when first activated, allowing easier installation.

Thanatos challenges Apollo's apparent defense of Alcestis and accuses him of " twisting slippery tricks " when he helped Admetus cheat death in the first place.

The first generation 4Matic system was originally a complex electronically controlled system with automatically engaging four-wheel drive ( 4WD ), the system employs locking central and rear differentials to provide additional traction in slippery conditions.

The ancient Britons being naturally a warlike nation did no doubt for the exercise of their youth in time of peace and to avoid idleness devise games of activity where each man might show his natural prowess and agility ...... About one or two of the clock afternoon begins the play, in this sort, after a cry made both parties draw to into some plain, all first stripped bare saving a light pair of breeches, bare-headed, bare-bodied, bare legs and feet .... The foot company thus meeting, there is a round ball prepared of a reasonable quantity so as a man may hold it in his hand and no more, this ball is of some massy wood as box, yew, crab or holly tree and should be boiled in tallow for m make it slippery and hard to hold.

From the first event in 1998 the race suffered from very heavy rain and the course became very wet and slippery.