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From: lmulcahy@nyx.net
Subject: "Begs the question" abuse
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Date: Wed, 15 Jan 1997 02:52:12 GMT
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Students of debate will recognize "begging the question" as a technical
term referring to a certain category of false argument.  One begs the
question by taking as a premise the thing which is to be proven.
Generally this will only be persuasive if the form of the proposition is
disguised in some way.

The Nizkor Project offers a helpful definition and some examples at
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/begging-the-question.html.

Peeve: "begs the question" is increasingly being used to mean "leads
(compellingly) to consideration of the question."

A few examples chosen almost randomly by typing "begs the question" in
to DejaNews:

    Gee..I wasn't paying any attention until now...Don Jordan is posting
    from Florida...and he's complaining about Californians visiting
    Silver Star Montana....so this BEGS THE QUESTION, are you a native
    of Siver Star Don, or did you move to Montana from some place
    else??...Do you winter in Florida??

    As far as I can tell, WWF has only sold 20,000 tickets for the
    Rumble.  20,000 is 20,000, but 50,000 short of what they want. But
    my question is, Has the WWF only sold 20,000
    "prime-seats"?(i.e. around the ring or close to it) Seems to me that
    20,000 seats around the ring would represent a good total in terms
    of these "prime-seats. Now this BEGS another QUESTION. Are places
    like Ticket-Master and something like the Alamodome ticket office
    selling more tickets that aren't being reported by the WWF?

    I didn't bother to read the post, but no matter. I'm pretty sure
    it's some loudmouth raider fan writing with foul language and lots
    of spelling errors or with the caps lock key down. Something like
    that.
    Still, your post BEGS THE QUESTION: If you're willing to judge all
    Raider fans from the poster in question, shouldn't we judge all
    Dolphin fans by the trash you post?

This usage troubles me.  The intent seems to be to lend weight to the
speaker's desire to change the subject by implying that objective and
impersonal considerations require it.  In some cases it also appears the
speaker's choice of words is motivated by a desire to appear learned or
to suggest that the fallacious logic of his opponent has been rebutted.

English is not like, say, French, where a government body rules formally
what words and usage are correct.  The formal definition of what
constitutes correct English is descriptive, not prescriptive.  Thus,
whatever many English speakers say comes to be considered correct
English.  For instance, you may have been taught in school that
"hopefully" is an adverb (they travelled hopefully), but it is so widely
used as a synonym for "I hope" (hopefully, the customer will pay) that
this has become an accepted and everyday usage.  Today's widespread
mistake is tomorrow's correct English, and, if present trends continue,
the objectionable usage of "begs the question" will come to be
considered correct.

Glad to have that off my chest.

-- 
Larry Mulcahy		larry@ambient.uucp	lmulcahy@nyx.net
		http://www.nyx.net/~lmulcahy/
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