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Sergiu

Does the "butterfly effect" typify the slippery slope fallacy?

asked on Thursday, Oct 01, 2015 07:42:42 AM by Sergiu

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Bo Bennett, PhD
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Not necessarily. A main tenet in chaos theory is that while deterministic, the effects are ultimately unpredictable . If we can accurately predict each step of the slope, it is just a "slippery slope" (no fallacy). If we can predict each step of the slope but the odds are ignored then it is a slippery slope fallacy. If someone claims that "because of the butterfly effect" you should not take a day off from work because it will lead to WWIII, then yes, that is fallacious and pretty much the slippery slope fallacy.
answered on Thursday, Oct 01, 2015 07:55:40 AM by Bo Bennett, PhD

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