Question

...
mike

North Korea - Slippery slope fallacy?

The current argument goes:

1) If we don't do something, North Korea will continue its missile development program
2) If they continue the program, eventually they'll have a long range ICBM capable of hitting the US
3) If they develop such a weapon, they will use it and reign nuclear terror in an unprovoked attack
4) We must do something now about North Korea and we must not allow to them to develop long range ICBM's in order to avoid a nuclear attack

Is this a slippery slope? The argument says that simply possessing a WMD will likely result in it's use, therefore we must not allow a rogue nation to possess it. The whole point of nuclear weapons is deterrence, whats to say North Korea wants to commit suicide by attacking the USA?

Given past hostilities between nations that did not result in nuclear attacks, cold war, Arab/Israel hostilities, the argument seems fallacious.

asked on Tuesday, Aug 08, 2017 11:42:47 AM by mike

Top Categories Suggested by Community

Comments

Want to get notified of all questions as they are asked? Update your mail preferences and turn on "Instant Notification."

Like the Site? You'll Love the Book!

This book is a crash course, meant to catapult you into a world where you start to see things how they really are, not how you think they are.  The focus of this book is on logical fallacies, which loosely defined, are simply errors in reasoning.  With the reading of each page, you can make significant improvements in the way you reason and make decisions.

Get 20% off this book and all Bo's books*. Use the promotion code: websiteusers

* This is for the author's bookstore only. Applies to autographed hardcover, audiobook, and ebook.

Get the Book

Answers

...
Bo Bennett, PhD
0
I would certainly call slippery slope. As you point out, the connection between them having it and using it is very weak... especially given the countries have currently have or had them that never used them.
answered on Tuesday, Aug 08, 2017 11:45:41 AM by Bo Bennett, PhD

Comments

...
mike
0
Lets hope the Donald and the higher ups in the US admin took bo's logical fallacies course:)
answered on Tuesday, Aug 08, 2017 06:23:13 PM by mike

Comments

...
Jordan Pine
0
The slippery slope usually starts with something innocuous that it is argued will slide into something ominous. Here, the top of the slide is pretty ominous.

The fallacy here is more a form of jingoism, to my mind. At its heart is a fallacy that states only First World countries can be trusted with world-ending technologies. Perhaps Prof. Bennett has a fallacy for this? Ad superiorum? Inverse ad baculum (they'll use the stick if we don't stop them)?
answered on Wednesday, Aug 09, 2017 08:34:25 AM by Jordan Pine

Comments