Definitional retreat

Biological Parallel

Claim: 'Wolves are apex predators.' Counter: 'Bears kill wolves.' Retreat: 'By apex predator, I mean dominant in their typical context.' This is definitional retreat—narrowing definitions when challenged. Ecologists do this with 'keystone species': sea stars were the original keystone, but then sea otters, then wolves, then elephants—until the definition expanded to include any species with 'disproportionate impact' (i.e., all interesting species). The same happens in corporate strategy: 'core competency' morphs from specific capabilities to whatever the company does well this quarter. The fallacy: definitions that morph to avoid falsification explain nothing. If every organism is 'keystone in some context,' the category loses meaning. Precision requires falsifiability.