Bronze-level articleBegging the question

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Revision as of 07:24, 26 February 2011

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Begging the question or assuming the answer is a logical fallacy that occurs when the conclusion of an argument is used as a premise of that same argument; i.e., the premises would not work if the conclusion is invalid.[1]

It is often called circular reasoning, although sometimes it's considered distinct with the distinction that circular reasoning is:

A implies B which implies A

Begging the question similarly takes the form:

A implies B and A is only valid because B is assumed.

Circular reasoning is fallacious because reasoning and justification must start with the known and then determine the unknown - in the case of circular reasoning, it starts with the known and ends up with the equally known, thus it proves nothing.[2]

Contents

Examples

Example 1:

  • We shall prove that God exists.
  1. The order and magnificence of the of the world is evidence of God's Creation.
  2. Therefore, we know that God exists.

Here, it is assumed that God exists in order to satisfy the premise that "God's Creation" is evidence of his existence. There is no standalone argument here that connects existence to God's creation except the conclusion, which is that God exists. Note the slight structural differences in the argument to simple circular reasoning - the order of the world isn't implied by God's existence, but trying to use it as evidence of God's existence must assume he exists in the first place.

Example 2:

  • We shall justify making abortion illegal.
  1. Abortion is unjust murder.
  2. Murder is illegal.
  3. Therefore abortion should be made illegal, since it is murder.

In this case, the conclusion (that abortion should be illegal because it is murder) is assumed to be true in order to compare it to murder in the first point. Essentially, the initial premise comparing abortion to murder remains unproved without any additional evidence.

Example 3:

A common example of circular reasoning.

More God stuff now. This one is so mind-blowingly circular that you'd think it was a straw man. However, most Biblical literalists use the Bible as their main proof of God, and using the Bible as any form of evidence for God must assume the following circular argument.

  1. The Bible tells us that it is the word of God.
  2. The word of God is infallible.
  3. Therefore the Bible is infallible.
  4. And as such, the Bible must be the word of God.
  5. The word of God is infallible.
  6. Therefore the Bible is infallible.
  7. And...

Admittedly, more advanced theologians - well, anyone smart enough to use the word "theologian" - aren't this stupid and some creationists and literalists do try to prove the Bible though other means. However, this usually tends towards hilarity rather than good scholarship.

Confusion with term

Warning: Pedantry Alert

Many people incorrectly use the expression "begs the question" to mean "raises the question" - in the sense that they believe an important point is being overlooked in the argument given. For example; "If God created the universe, this begs the question of who created God." In this case, "raises the question" is the correct term to use. There are countless of examples of this use, and pointing it out is best handled by professional and qualified pedants only. Begging the question comes from petito principii, literally a request (or beg) for the premise, which explains this problem.

Spherical logic

Spherical logic can be expressed mathematically as:


L = 4 \pi (bullshit^2) \,

See also

Footnotes

  1. Skeptic's Dictionary - Begging the question
  2. What Is Circular Reasoning? (PDF)
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