slippery slope Quick reference
A Dictionary of Philosophy (3 ed.)
... slope One is standing on a slippery slope when arguments one has accepted against a position appear to apply equally to one’s own position, forcing one, perhaps little by little, into a conclusion one has no desire to accept. Much argument against compromise positions in politics and ethics attempts to portray them as in an unstable position between an extreme they have rejected, and another extreme to which they do not wish to be...
slippery slope Reference library
Baroness Warnock
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (2 ed.)
... slope . The ‘slippery slope’ is the name of an argument based on a certain view of human nature, not on logic, and commonly used in non-philosophical discussions of moral issues. The reasoning is that, though a practice may be unobjectionable in one type of case, if it is once permitted, its use will inevitably be extended to other more morally dubious cases. Thus it is argued that, though research using human embryos immediately after fertilization may be morally defensible, the period for research will inevitably be extended, until we shall find...
slippery slope argument Quick reference
Concise Medical Dictionary (10 ed.)
... slope argument the claim that a relatively innocuous or small first step will result in seriously harmful or otherwise undesirable consequences that will be difficult, if not impossible, to prevent. When or whether such slippery slopes exist is much argued over in medical ethics, especially in debates about euthanasia . See also consequentialism...
slippery slope arguments Reference library
The New Oxford Companion to Law
...single women, lesbian couples, etc? The slippery slope is also sometimes invoked where it is not the real objection. Thus those (conservatives, Catholics) who say if we allow abortion we will end by accepting that infanticide is legitimate are really saying they object to the killing of an innocent human being. But someone invoking the slippery slope argument is saying in effect that there is a progression from abortion (or even contraception or embryo research ) to infanticide. Discussions of the slippery slope distinguish a logical form of the...
slippery slope Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2 ed.)
... slope an idea or course of action which will lead to something unacceptable, wrong, or...
Slippery slope Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase & Fable (2 ed.)
... slope . A risky course of action. The image is of traversing a slithery hillside, where one is in danger of losing one's footing and sliding to the bottom. The expression dates from the 1950s. The two words are often associated in sense but quite unrelated in...
slippery slope
The Downhill Path and Defense, Not Surrender Reference library
Rusmir Mahmutćehajić
Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook
...freedom and equality. Democracy, by its very nature, is a forerunner of dictatorship or demagogy. (Whether modern advocates of democracy like it or not, history since the Plato’s time has at least not proved him wrong.) Since the course of degeneration is not straight down a slippery slope, but oscillates around an underlying trend, apparent deviations from what Plato describes are possible, so that chaos may be interrupted by principled autocracy, which is always less evil than the dangers of demagogy. ...
1 Corinthians Reference library
John Barclay and John Barclay
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...necessary counterweight to the difficulties of the ‘present evil age’ ( Gal 1:4 ) that, if it were proved to be groundless, Christians would turn out to be especially pitiable. The Corinthians may not have denied all future hope, but Paul insists on depicting the whole of the slippery slope which he thinks they have started to descend. Corinthian doubts have challenged a basic element in Paul's theology and he now demonstrates the pivotal significance of the resurrection of Jesus within the scheme of salvation ( vv. 20–8 ). This scheme is founded on an...
1 & 2 Samuel Reference library
Gwilym H. Jones, Gwilym H. Jones, and Gwilym H. Jones
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...Wadi es-Ṣuwēnīṭ, and that of the Israelites in Geba to the south of it. Jonathan and his armour-bearer succeeded in the first encounter ( vv. 1–15 ) by clambering up from the ravine through rock formations that were difficult to negotiate, as indicated by their names, Bozez (‘slippery one’) and Seneh (‘thorny one’). The enterprise and bravery of Jonathan brought success against a superior Philistine force. There is a contrast between Jonathan the hero and the reckless Saul, who acted foolishly on one occasion ( 13:13 ), interrupted a consultation to rush to...
killing
euthanasia
vegetarianism
slippery Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms (4 ed.)
... slippery slippery slope an idea or course of action which will lead inevitably to something unacceptable, wrong, or disastrous. 2013 Rural Canadian It bothers me greatly… when it appears that the local … Green EDA (Electoral District Association) has once again got one foot on the slippery slope to de-registration due to...
Scott, Undecimus Reference library
Oxford Reader's Companion to Trollope
...Undecimus ( Undy ) , son of Lord Gaberlunzie , MP for Tillietudlem, and stock-jobber. Villain of the novel, Undy Scott is a good-humoured parasite who feeds off the vulnerability of those around him. He leads Charley down the slippery slope by luring him into stock speculation and by bribing him. He is ‘the incarnation of evil, which it is always necessary that the novelist should have personified in one of his characters to enable him to bring about his misfortunes, his tragedies, and various requisite tragedies’ (XLIV). TC MT Mark W....
Slipper Reference library
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain
...London. English: (i) occupational name from a derivative of Middle English slipen ‘to polish, sharpen’, for someone who sharpened swords or other blades. (ii) nickname from Middle English sliper ‘having a smooth or slippery surface’ (Old English slipor ), perhaps for a bald person. (iii) locative name from Middle English slip(pe) ‘sloping landing place by a navigable waterway’ + -er . The surname may be for someone who lived by a...
Trimble, David Quick reference
A Dictionary of British History (3 ed.)
...prize in 1998 . Trimble served as First Minister in the power‐sharing executive but his party was outflanked by the DUP and Trimble lost his seat in 2005 . In 2006 he was made a life peer and joined the Conservative party. He is one of many who have found moderation a slippery slope in Northern Ireland...
floodgates argument Reference library
Australian Law Dictionary (3 ed.)
...gate’ and the courts will be ‘flooded’ with similar claims and be unable to cope. The policy argument analogises the present claim to a releasing mechanism on floodgates, and possible later claims to the overpowering rush of water released when the gates are opened. The ‘slippery slope’ argument is similar: set one foot on that path, and it’s a downhill slide, with no going back. Both are weak forms of reasoning (see Tame v New South Wales [ 2002 ] HCA 35; 211 CLR 31). See also metaphor ; simile...
Gray, Spalding Reference library
Karen Fricker
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
...scripted and continually reworked over many years. His subsequent pieces have charted his life in detail, including his experiences of writing a book ( Monster in a Box , 1990 ), suffering illness ( Gray's Anatomy , 1993 ), leaving his wife for another woman ( It's a Slippery Slope , 1996 ), and fatherhood ( Morning, Noon, and Night , 1999 ). Karen...
