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What Begging the Question Means

"Most of the food is heated up by microwave, which begs the question: why have a cooktop at all?"


"She hadn't received a reply in weeks, which begs the question: was he truly that busy or just ghosting her?"


"My dog will only sleep on my couch, which begs the question: why do we even own a dog bed?"


These are not examples of begging the question!


But these are:


"Most food is heated up by microwave so a cooktop is unnecessary."


"He's obviously ghosting her because he hasn't replied in weeks."


"Because my dog only sleeps on the couch, it's pointless for Rover to have a separate bed."


The term "begging the question" is a logical fallacy (i.e. based on invalid or irrelevant reasoning) that assumes an answer within the question. It's circular reasoning, a snake chasing its own hind quarters.


Not all logical fallacies are false statements, by the way. The term simply means that conclusions are presented without any evidence beyond the statement itself.


It's similar to a rhetorical question, which is a question that does not really ask for an answer but instead makes a dramatic statement or point in the form of a question.(i.e. "Who is the scoundrel who gobbled down the last of the peanut butter oatmeal cookies?" when only one other person had access to the platter.) but in a separate category.


The bad usage examples above occur when people mean to say something like "which raises the question," or "this brings up a point," or "I wonder why." They aren't really on hands and knees begging for a question or an answer.


TLDR; if you use the phrase "which begs the question," you're using it wrong.



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