In classical rhetoric and logic, begging the question or assuming the conclusion (Latin: petītiō principiī) is an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion. Historically, begging the question refers to a fault in a dialectical argument in which the speaker assumes some premise that has not been demonstrated to be true. In modern usage, it has come to refer to an argument in which the premises assume the conclusion without supporting it. This makes it an example of circular reasoning.[1][2]
Some examples are:
"People have known for thousands of years that the earth is round. Therefore, the earth is round."
"Drugs are illegal so they must be bad for you. Therefore, we ought not legalize drugs because drugs are bad for you."[3]
Colloquial misuse of the phrase "begs the question" also occurs with an entirely dissimilar sense in place of "prompts a question" or "raises a question".[4]
^Dowden, Bradley (27 March 2003). "Fallacies". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
^Herrick (2000) 248.
^Walton, Douglas (2008). Informal Logic: A Pragmatic Approach. Cambridge University Press. p. 64ff. ISBN 978-0-521-88617-8.
^Marsh, David. "Begging the question". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
and 20 Related for: Begging the question information
beggingthequestion or assuming the conclusion (Latin: petītiō principiī) is an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument's premises assume the truth...
be distinguished from that of beggingthequestion, which offers a premise whose plausibility depends on the truth of the proposition asked about, and...
Beggingthequestion, is more formally synonymous with “ignoring a question under the assumption it has already been answered.” Beggingthequestion often...
murdered their parents asking for leniency). Beggingthequestion (petitio principii) – using the conclusion of the argument in support of itself in a premise...
with petitio principii (beggingthequestion), which offers a premise no more plausible than, and often just a restatement of, the conclusion. Closely connected...
including the fallacy of equivocation, the fallacy of amphiboly, the fallacies of composition and division, the false dilemma, the fallacy of beggingthe question...
fallacy at all is present. Thus in some contexts it may be a form of beggingthequestion, and it is also a special case of ad lapidem. Argument from ignorance...
true Trump supporter endorses violence" exemplify the fallacy. Ad hoc hypothesis Beggingthequestion Democrat in Name Only Epistemic commitment Equivocation...
closely related to beggingthequestion, and in modern usage the two generally refer to the same thing. Circular reasoning is often of the form: "A is true...
Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Circularity may refer to: Circular definition Circular economy Circular reasoning, also known as circular logic Beggingthe question...
argument. Philosophy portal Ad hominem – Attacking the person rather than the argument Beggingthequestion – Logic founded on unproven premises Devil's advocate –...
cryptid, in the folklore of parts of the Americas. The name comes from the animal's reported vampirism—the chupacabra is said to attack and drink the blood...
.. Something". The national press soon picked up the reports and helped spread the story across the United States. The source of the legend is believed...
The stone that was in the box is something that is a signature creation of mine also. Make no mistake, I conceived of the Dybbuk Box – the name, the term...
ambiguously worded question about people to a specific person. The proper refutation, he wrote, is not to debate the attributes of the person (solutio ad...
after receiving from a friend what he was told was the shirt in question, despite it actually being the same shirt he'd worn during his poor performance...
"There is a very serious ethical question when lawyers become literary agents." George Lutz maintained that events in the book were "mostly true". In June...
Cryptids are animals that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by science...
experiment where the U.S. Navy attempted to make a destroyer escort, the USS Eldridge, disappear and the bizarre results that followed. The story surfaced...
Global Information