To Beg The Question

[Jeff hook]

Google's response to this Web search:

"+to beg +the question"

begins at:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2 ... gle+Search

I was amused to see that a Washington DC Web developer named Paulo was so vexed by the increasing misuse of this phrase that he devoted a distinct Web site to an explanation of the correct usage. His "Beg the Question/Get it Right" site was the first citation in Google's response to my search. It's at:

http://begthequestion.info/

This phrase DOESN'T mean (~) "Circumstances simply compel me to ask this question," or "I feel obliged to ask this question." It DOESN'T mean that the question is begging to be asked.

The archaic use of "beg" in this phrase may lead to misunderstanding. This phrase refers to a "logical fallacy" which may have first been discussed by Aristotle in his Analytics. The current English-language phrase seems to have originated in the 16th century when "beg" was used in debating jargon to mean to "dodge" or to "avoid" or to "stipulate" a point of argument. Thus, in the context of the debates in which this phrase was first used, "to beg the question" meant to assume as proven an assertion of fact which was the very subject of a debate!

It might have been an accepted debating technique to "stipulate" a given point temporarily, in order to move on to other arguments. Persons who argue with one another have surely asked one another since well before Aristotle's time, for example, to "assume that it is true that..." i.e. to "table" debate on a specific point temporarily, in order to be able to move on to a discussion of separate points.

"Tabling" argument on a given point temporarily might be fine, but unproven assertions still must be proven. When we assert a premise as its own proof, i.e. when we attempt to ignore questions of fact by simply repeating an unproven assertion without offering proof, as if the assertion has already been proven, then we're "begging the question."

MERELY SAYING IT IS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO, and the correct use of this old phrase reminds us of that problem!

(PS: I couldn't find a site-search feature for the Alpha Dictionary site. I wanted to search this site to see if this phrase has already been discussed here. I apologize if this site can be searched, and if I failed to see the relevant "controls" on any of this site's pages. However, if this site lacks such a search feature, I'd like to urge the webmaster to consider adding this functionality.)

Jeff Hook

[sluggo]

Jeff, I beg to advise: "Search" is right above these boxes, in the links that start with "FAQ", next to the logo. However searching "beg question" returned no such topics, just other threads using other words. Therefore your entry is both original and informative. Good one, dude.

The only correction here would be placing it in the "Idioms" category, as it is a phrase.

[Jeff hook]

Thanks, Sluggo.

Jeff Hook

(PS: These forums can be "addictive," can't they?! Wow! What a "blow-out"! "I gotta getta grip"! It's time for me to sit on the sidelines for a while!)

[Stargzer]

Thanks, Sluggo.

Jeff Hook

(PS: These forums can be "addictive," can't they?! Wow! What a "blow-out"! "I gotta getta grip"! It's time for me to sit on the sidelines for a while!)

OH, NO YOU DON'T!

Posting is just like voting: do it early and often; but there are times when work and home do get in the way ...