>Perhaps another example of question-begging would be useful:  Someone who asks
>"Who do you think is responsible for our lousy schools?" is sidestepping the
>issue of whether or not the schools are, indeed, lousy and is assuming that
>the listener agrees to the "lousy" description.  In other words, stating an
>arguable proposition as a fact.  ("Our schools are lousy" is an arguable
>proposition, not a fact.)  The word "beg"--in addition to the common meaning
>of "entreat"--also means (according to Webster's Collegiate) "evade,
>sidestep."

I think both of Johanna's original descriptions--the "diversionary tactic"
and the "demand that we ask question X"--are close to the mark.  I also
think that the speaker is often unaware of his or her fallacious
reasoning--a good argument for teaching argument!

Martha Kolln


It seems to me that "begging the question" comes from logic/argument,
>and means answer a question (ie, challenge) in a way that leaves the
>question unanswered, often because the supposed answer presupposes a
>certain answer to the given question.  To quote from my reason and
>argument text (_Understanding Arguments_ by Robert Fogelin and Walter
>Sinnott-Armstrong), "An argument is question begging if it relies,
>either explicity or implicitly, on things that, in the argumentative
>context, are matters of dispute" (p. 350).  Their example is:
>(Premise 1)  It's always wrong to murder human beings.
>(P2)  Capital punishment involves murdering human beings.
>-----------------------------------------
>(Conclusion)  Capital punishment is wrong.
>
>The problem, of course, is that P2 presupposes the validity of the
>conclusion.
>
>Aaron D. Profitt
>--
>Aaron D. Profitt
>The Gentle Misanthrope
>"The superfluous, a very necessary thing."  - Voltaire
>~veritas omnia vincit~
>University of Kansas