title: Value-impregnated factual claims and slippery-slope arguments.
abstract: Slippery-slope arguments typically question a course of action by estimating that it will end in misery once the first unfortunate step is taken. Previous studies indicate that estimations of the long-term consequences of certain debated actions, such as legalizing physician-assisted suicide, may be strongly influenced by tacit personal values. In this paper, we suggest that to the extent that slippery-slope arguments rest on estimations of future events, they may be mere rationalizations of personal values. This might explain why there are proponents even for strikingly poor slippery-slope arguments.
authors: Stockholm Centre for Healthcare Ethics, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden. gert.helgesson@ki.se.
authors: Gert
authors: G
authors: Helgesson
authors: Stockholm Centre for Healthcare Ethics, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: Niels
authors: N
authors: Lynøe
authors: Stockholm Centre for Healthcare Ethics, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors: Niklas
authors: N
authors: Juth
mesh_terms: D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D036262:Empirical Research; D006801:Humans; D012945:Social Values; D017236:Suicide, Assisted / Q000941:ethics; D035761:Wedge Argument
keywords: Hastening death; Physician-assisted suicide; Slippery-slope arguments; Value-impregnated estimations