Monday, November 24, 2008

Beg the question

Nowadays, I often hear people say "that begs the question such and such."  They mean that the antecedent of "that" causes them to think of the question "such and such."

In logic, the expression "that begs the question" does not take a question in apposition with "question." Rather, it means that the antecedent of "that" is a an argument based on assuming what it claims to prove. For example, "God exists, because the Bible, which is the word of God, says so" begs the question.

No comments: