Difference between revisions of "Moving the goalposts"
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| − | "'''Moving the goalposts'''" is a [[British]] expression first popularized in the late 1980s and 1990s | + | "'''Moving the goalposts'''" is a [[British]] expression first popularized in the late 1980s and 1990s. It is an informal logical fallacy in which previously agreed upon standards for deciding an argument are arbitrarily changed once they have been met. Its use is obscure in [[America]], and appears in debates between [[creationists]] and [[evolutionists]]. The term has only 48,800 references on a [[Google]] search as of February 14, 2010,<ref>http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22moving+the+goalposts%22&aq=&aqi=g2&oq=%22moving+the+goalposts%22&fp=baa94940edcea411</ref> nearly 14% of which show up when searching "moving the goalposts" and "evolution"<ref>http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22moving+the+goalposts%22+evolution&aq=&aqi=&oq=%22moving+the+goalposts%22+evolution&fp=baa94940edcea411</ref> and 20% of which show up when searching "moving the goalposts" and "creation" <ref>http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22moving+the+goalposts%22+creation&aq=&aqi=&oq=&fp=baa94940edcea411</ref> |
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== References == | == References == | ||
Revision as of 17:17, February 14, 2010
"Moving the goalposts" is a British expression first popularized in the late 1980s and 1990s. It is an informal logical fallacy in which previously agreed upon standards for deciding an argument are arbitrarily changed once they have been met. Its use is obscure in America, and appears in debates between creationists and evolutionists. The term has only 48,800 references on a Google search as of February 14, 2010,[1] nearly 14% of which show up when searching "moving the goalposts" and "evolution"[2] and 20% of which show up when searching "moving the goalposts" and "creation" [3]
References
- ↑ http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22moving+the+goalposts%22&aq=&aqi=g2&oq=%22moving+the+goalposts%22&fp=baa94940edcea411
- ↑ http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22moving+the+goalposts%22+evolution&aq=&aqi=&oq=%22moving+the+goalposts%22+evolution&fp=baa94940edcea411
- ↑ http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=%22moving+the+goalposts%22+creation&aq=&aqi=&oq=&fp=baa94940edcea411