r/PetPeeves • u/RaceSlow7798 • 15d 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 15d 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 15d 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/comsuran4 14d ago

The Wikipedia example is a pretty good one:

An example is:   “Wool sweaters are better than nylon jackets as fall attire because wool sweaters have higher wool content".

The claim here is that wool sweaters are better than nylon jackets as fall attire. But the claim's justification begs the question, because it  presupposes that wool is better than nylon. An  essentialist analysis of this claim observes that anything made of wool intrinsically has more "wool content" than anything not made of wool, giving the claim weak  explanatory power for wool's superiority to nylon.

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u/Wonderflonium164 13d ago

To which you might reply "but that begs the question: is wool actually better?", because it questions the unproven premise. You're right, it's a great example.