Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy
Published in: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 1/2017

Open Access 01-03-2017 | Short Communication

Value-impregnated factual claims and slippery-slope arguments

Authors: Gert Helgesson, Niels Lynøe, Niklas Juth

Published in: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy | Issue 1/2017

Login to get access

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.
Literature
Björk, J., Lynöe, N., Juth, N. Empirical and philosophical analysis of physicians’ judgments of medical indications. Clinical Ethics. Accepted.
den Hartogh, G. 2010. The Slippery Slope Argument. In A Companion to Bioethics, 321–332. Wiley-Blackwell.
Helgesson, G., A. Lindblad, H. Thulesius, and N. Lynøe. 2009. Reasoning about physician-assisted suicide: analysis of comments by physicians and the Swedish general public. Clinical Ethics 4: 19–25.CrossRef
Juth, N., and N. Lynøe. 2010. Do strong values influence estimations of future events? Journal of Medical Ethics 36(4): 255–256.CrossRef
LaFollette, H. 2005. Living on a slippery slope. Journal of Ethics 9(3–4): 475–499.CrossRef
Launis, V. 2002. Human gene therapy and the slippery slope argument. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 5(2): 169–179.CrossRef
Launis, V. 2010. Cosmetic neurology: Sliding down the slippery slope? Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 19: 218–229.CrossRef
Lindblad, A., R. Löfmark, and N. Lynøe. 2009. Would physician-assisted suicide jeopardize trust in medical services? An empirical study of attitudes among the general public in Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 37: 260–264.CrossRef
Mishara, B.L., and D.N. Weisstub. 2013. Premises and evidence in the rhetoric of assisted suicide and euthanasia. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 36(5–6): 427–435.CrossRef
Rietjens, J., A.C. Rietjens, P.J. van der Maas, et al. 2009. Two decades of research on Euthanasia from the Netherlands. What have we learnt and what questions Remain? Bioethical Inquiry 6: 271–283.CrossRef
Rydvall, A., N. Juth, M. Sandlund, and N. Lynøe. 2014. Are physicians’ estimations of future events value-impregnated? Empirical study of double intentions when providing treatment that shorten a dying patient’s life. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 17(3): 397–402.CrossRef
Svennerlind, C. 2009. Tillräknelighet i svensk rätt. (Accountability in Swedish Law.) In Tillräknelighet (Accountability). eds. Radovic, S., Anckarsäter, H., 51–106. Lund:Studentlitteratur.
Shariff, M.J. 2012. Assisted death and the slippery slope-finding clarity amid advocacy, convergence, and complexity. Current Oncology 19(3): 143–154.CrossRef
Verhagen, A.A. 2013. The Groningen Protocol for newborn euthanasia; which way did the slippery slope tilt? Journal of Medical Ethics 39(5): 293–295.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Value-impregnated factual claims and slippery-slope arguments
Authors
Gert Helgesson
Niels Lynøe
Niklas Juth
Publication date
01-03-2017
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy / Issue 1/2017
Print ISSN: 1386-7423
Electronic ISSN: 1572-8633
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-016-9723-4

Other articles of this Issue 1/2017

Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 1/2017 Go to the issue

Editorial

Emerging technologies and the voice of reason

Scientific Contribution

Learning to live with Parkinson’s disease in the family unit: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of well-being

Scientific Contribution

Simulation as an ethical imperative and epistemic responsibility for the implementation of medical guidelines in health care

Scientific Contribution

Honorary authorship and symbolic violence

Scientific Contribution

The proposal of philosophical basis of the health care system

Scientific Contribution

Ethical issues in nanomedicine: Tempest in a teapot?