moving-the-goalposts

Moving-the-goalposts is the argumentative fallacy in which the standard of proof required to accept a claim is changed mid-debate after the original standard has been met or challenged. PARAMETERS: (1) an initial evidentiary threshold set or implied by the claimant; (2) an attempt to meet that threshold; (3) the claimant rejects the attempt as insufficient; (4) the claimant raises the threshold to a higher standard that was not previously required. PERSISTENCE: the pattern persists through instruction in debate, documentation in rhetorical handbooks, naming in logical fallacy catalogs, and repetition in public discourse where participants invoke the term to call out the tactic. [formal: motu-proprio | substrate: behavior | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.47]