Motte-and-bailey fallacy

Biological Parallel

Bailey (bold claim): 'Cooperation always outperforms competition.' Motte (defensible retreat): 'Cooperation can be beneficial in some contexts.' When challenged on the bailey, retreat to the motte—then reassert the bailey once scrutiny passes. Evolutionary biology faces this with group selection: bold claims about group-level adaptation retreat to kin selection when challenged, then re-emerge as group selection. The fallacy: defend the modest claim but promote the radical one. Intellectual territory claimed exceeds territory held.