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"Begging the Question" - What it Really Means, Once and for All


DonRocks

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Okay, we've *all* heard "That begs the question ..." usually followed by a question.

It's all wrong. The definition of "begging the question" is *simple*, but only once you're finally told what it really means. Here's what it really means:

You can remove the words "begging the question," and substitute the words "using a faulty proposition." That's it. That's all there is.

"To beg the question" is "to use a faulty proposition." When you use the term correctly, it's followed by a period. Full stop. 

Here is the only example you need:

* "That tree is green. Therefore, its leaves are going to turn brown and drop off this autumn."

That begs the question.

In other words, that uses a faulty proposition. The proposition implies that all green trees are deciduous, and lose their leaves in the autumn, which is false.

I credit Grammar Girl for the correct definition. However, she takes it a step further, which I can't agree with. She would also use this example:

* "Chocolate is delicious. Because it's yummy."

Grammar Girl says that is also an example of "begging the question" (after all, who's to say that chocolate is delicious?) - when a conclusion merely restates the proposition, such as in this case, she says it begs the question.

However, I *strongly* prefer the term "circular reasoning" to describe this logical fallacy, and must distinguish it from the other case, which is very different in my eyes. They are two distinct logical fallacies.

I claim that the *only* time it's correct to use the term "begs the question" is if - and only if - you can substitute the words "uses a faulty proposition" instead. (Even if I'm wrong about the second example, you'll still be a lot better off than you were a minute ago - and why not play it safe?)

That's it - that's all there is to it. 

It does *not* mean, "That raises the question." That's how everybody uses it, and they're *all wrong*. Don't make that mistake because, even though most people won't know better, *you'll* know better. People that use the phrase incorrectly are trying to sound educated, but in fact, are completely wrong, wrong, wrong.

This entire article is worth reading:

Aug 19, 2008 - "Begs the Question - What 'Begs the Question' Really Means" by Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl) on quickanddirtytips.com

(Note the link to a revised 2014 article.)

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Oh my, Don, you've certainly changed your tune. Back in October of 2012, when I objected to your own use of "begs the question" to mean "raises the question", you said:

Quote

... I used "begs the question" properly.

(It doesn't have to be strictly for logic-based arguments anymore. Like it or not!)

Henry Fowler, in his magisterial Modern English Usage, defines question-begging thus:

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Arguing in a Circle: The basing of two conclusion each upon the other. That the world is good follows from the known goodness of God; that God is good is known from the excellence of the world he has made.

Petitio Principii or Begging the Question: 'assumption of the basis'. The fallacy of founding a conclusion on a basis that as much needs to be proved as the conclusion itself. Arguing in a circle (see above) is a common form of p.p. That foxhunting is not cruel, since the fox enjoys the fun & that one must keep servants because all respectable people do so, are other examples of begging the question or p.p., in which the argument is not circular.

I'm glad you've seen the error of your ways, but sorry it wasn't I who convinced you.

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1 hour ago, The Hersch said:

Oh my, Don, you've certainly changed your tune. Back in October of 2012, when I objected to your own use of "begs the question" to mean "raises the question", you said:

Henry Fowler, in his magisterial Modern English Usage, defines question-begging thus:

I'm glad you've seen the error of your ways, but sorry it wasn't I who convinced you.

Feel better now? :)

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