{"id":1713,"date":"2014-12-01T19:31:43","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T01:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1713"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:56:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T16:56:52","slug":"begging-the-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/begging-the-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Begging the Question"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The phrase\u00a0<em>beg the question<\/em>\u00a0has been around for centuries. But now everyone seems to be saying it, maybe because it sounds smart. It\u2019s a shame that no one bothers to look it up.<\/p>\n<p>Here are three of the countless examples of<em>\u00a0beg the question<\/em>\u00a0one can find online: \u201cIt begs the question of who Fluke really is.\u201d \u201cExports\u2019 clout begs the question: Was NAFTA good or bad?\u201d \u201cHe did stand-up comedy once, which begs the question<em>,<\/em>\u00a0What can\u2019t this guy do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wrong, wrong, and wrong. In each case, the writer should have said \u201craises the question\u201d or \u201csuggests the question\u201d or \u201cdemands the question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Until\u00a0<em>beg the question<\/em>\u00a0became a fad phrase, most people who weren\u2019t scholars or intellectuals lived long, fruitful lives with no occasion to use it. \u201cTo beg the question\u201d is a somewhat quirky translation of the Latin term\u00a0<em>petitio principii<\/em>, or \u201claying claim to a principle.\u201d It is a technical term for reaching unwarranted conclusions, often through the folly of circular reasoning.<\/p>\n<p>A succinct definition of\u00a0<em>beg the question<\/em>\u00a0is found in H.W. Fowler\u2019s\u00a0<em>Modern English Usage<\/em>: \u201cThe fallacy of founding a conclusion on a basis that as much needs to be proved as the conclusion itself.\u201d Fowler offers this example: \u201cCapital punishment is necessary because without it murders would increase.\u201d There are two unproven assertions in that sentence, and yet the second one is supposed to prove the first.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s another kind of question-begging: \u201cGood grammar matters because proper speech or writing makes a difference.\u201d Any thesaurus will list\u00a0<em>proper<\/em>\u00a0as a synonym for\u00a0<em>good<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>make a difference<\/em>\u00a0as synonymous with the verb\u00a0<em>matter.\u00a0<\/em>And grammar is the study of speech and writing. So in this instance of begging the question, the \u201cproof\u201d is merely the premise restated in different words. That\u2019s like saying, \u201cGood grammar matters because I just said so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those who are tempted to class up their articles or conversations with\u00a0<em>beg the question<\/em>\u00a0should probably reconsider, unless they\u2019re discussing a logical fallacy. Otherwise, make it \u201craise the question.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The phrase\u00a0beg the question\u00a0has been around for centuries. But now everyone seems to be saying it, maybe because it sounds smart. It\u2019s a shame that no one bothers to look it up. Here are three of the countless examples of\u00a0beg the question\u00a0one can find online: \u201cIt begs the question of who Fluke really is.\u201d \u201cExports\u2019 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-definitions","category-effective-writing"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}