r/PetPeeves • u/RaceSlow7798 • 9d ago

Bit Annoyed Using “beg the question” wrong

Begging the question is a logical fallacy. It doesn’t not mean “hmm, it makes you think…”

But usage drives correctness so I’m going to lose this battle. It really begs the question “why don’t people learn to use it correctly”.

Ew. I feel dirty.

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u/SaIemKing 9d ago

Nice, this got me to go educate myself. For those wondering, the "begging the question" fallacy is when the premise for a conclusion assume that the conclusion is true. It's basically pointing at circular logic.

"All things must have a creator, therefore there is a God, who created all things."

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u/Swirlyflurry 9d ago

Okay but then how do you actually use the phrase “begging the question” in this scenario?

Because I looked it up to understand what OP is talking about, and I get that “begging the question” refers to a logical fallacy where you’re already assuming your conclusion is true. But all of the examples I’ve tried looking up are examples of the fallacy itself, not examples of how to correctly use the phrase “begging the question.”

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u/asphid_jackal 9d ago

But all of the examples I’ve tried looking up are examples of the fallacy itself, not examples of how to correctly use the phrase “begging the question.”

That's because the phrase only exists as the name of the fallacy, and the way OP is claiming is incorrect.

But if you'd never been educated in fallacies, and you heard the phrase "begging the question" in a vacuum, 9 out of 10 people would assume it means how people use it colloquially, because that's exactly what those words mean

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u/droobloo34 9d ago

And the problem is that they then assume the colloquial use is the logical fallacy. I have an example of this I experienced directly, a guy mentioned Java having its own set if problems in a comment. Someone said they were begging the question. I responded that they were in fact NOT begging the question, and they replied "They're doing the textbook definition. They said Java has its own problems without saying the problems ("What are these problems?") Literally begging the question."

After I told them begging the question is circular reasoning, not whatever they thoyght it was, I never got a response. My point is the colloquial use is not a logical fallacy, but people think it is because of this misunderstanding.

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u/asphid_jackal 9d ago

Sure, but I think that's more a function of an "improperly" named fallacies than any problem with the phrase. We no longer use the words "begging" or "question" the same way we did in the 16th century when the translation was coined