Logically Fallacious: The Ultimate Collection of Over 300 Logical Fallacies (Academic Edition) (Dr. Bo's Critical Thinking Series)

by Bo Bennett

Moving the Goalposts (also known as: gravity game, raising the bar, argument by demanding impossible perfection) Description: Demanding from an interlocutor that he or she address more and more points after the initial counter-argument has been satisfied refusing to concede or accept the interlocutor’s argument. Logical Form: Issue A has been raised, and adequately answered. Issue B is then raised, and adequately answered. ..... Issue Z is then raised, and adequately answered. (despite all issues adequately answered, the interlocutor refuses to conceded or accept the argument. Example #1: Ken: There has to be an objective morality because otherwise terms like “right” and “wrong” would be meaningless since they have no foundation for comparison. Rob: The terms “right” and “wrong” are based on cultural norms, which do have a subjective foundation—one that changes as the moral sphere of the culture changes. The term “heavy” does not have an objective standard, yet we have no problem using that term in a meaningful way. In fact, very few relational terms have any kind of objective foundation. Ken: But without an objective morality, we would all be lost morally as a race. Rob: Many would say that we are. Ken: But how can you say that torturing children for fun is morally acceptable in any situation? Rob: Personally, I wouldn’t, but you are implying that anything that is not objective must necessarily be seen in all possible ways. A feather may not be seen as “heavy” to anyone,...