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Definition

Moving the goalposts (also shifting the goalposts, raising the bar, or changing the rules) is an informal logical fallacy in which evidence that meets a stated standard is dismissed, and a new—usually harder—standard is demanded instead. The metaphor comes from sports: after a shot that would have scored, the posts are moved so the attempt no longer counts.

So what is moving the goalposts? It is not “asking careful questions.” It is revising the rules of proof mid-game so a conclusion never has to be conceded.

Definition

False cause is an informal logical fallacy in which someone concludes that one thing caused another without sufficient evidence. In Latin it is often labeled non causa pro causa (“non-cause for cause”). Related textbook names include causal fallacy, faulty causation, and questionable cause.

So what is the false cause fallacy? It is not “A and B are unrelated, full stop.” Real causes exist. The error is treating sequence, coincidence, or correlation as if they already proved a causal link.

Definition

The Big Brain/Little Brain fallacy (also called Führerprinzip or Mad Leader Disease) is an extreme form of blind loyalty: a boss, commander, politician, or cult leader tells followers not to think with the “little brain” in their own heads, but with the leader’s “big brain.” Independent judgment is framed as stress, disloyalty, or unnecessary—so long as orders are followed.

So what is the Big Brain/Little Brain fallacy? It treats obedience as proof of rightness, and the leader’s mind as a substitute for everyone else’s reason and conscience.

Definition

Mind reading (also the fallacy of speculation, or the “I can read you like a book” move) is an ancient informal fallacy: someone speculates about another person’s thoughts, emotions, motives, or “body language,” then claims to understand them clearly—sometimes more accurately than that person understands themselves—and deploys that phony knowledge as a warrant for or against a standpoint.

So what is the mind-reading fallacy? It is not ordinary empathy or Theory of Mind. Humans infer mental states all the time. The fallacy is treating those inferences as settled facts and using them as proof in argument.

A thought-terminating cliché (also called a semantic stop-sign, thought-stopper, bumper sticker logic, or cliché thinking) is a phrase used to end an argument and patch up cognitive dissonance with a cliché rather than a point. So: what is a thought-terminating cliché? In short, it’s loaded language-often sounding like folk wisdom-that replaces reasoned debate with a memorable, reductive line and discourages further thinking. Some phrases are not inherently terminating; they become thought-terminating when used to dismiss dissent, avoid evidence, or justify fallacious reasoning.