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Begging the QuestionThe fallacy of begging the question appears to be contextual and seems to also raise the need to ‘raise a question’ - which is different than ‘which raises the question’.
If I say: Chocolate is healthful because it's good for you. If I understand the fallacy correctly, left as it stands this is begging the question. But suppose I am asked: why do you believe chocolate is healthful? In answering I cite the studies which examine the health benefits of methylxanthines in cacao and chocolate. Am I still committing a begging the question fallacy? |
| asked on Thursday, Mar 30, 2017 03:42:25 AM by JK | |
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So begging the question is essentially any form of argument where the conclusion is assumed in one of the premises. When we move from a more structured argument format (i.e. list of premises then conclusion) this fallacy more closely resembles the more generic circular reasoning or tautology. Your example:
Chocolate is healthful because it's good for you. Is a good example of a tautology or saying the same thing in two different ways. "Healthful" means "good for you." The classic example of begging the question is The Bible is the word of God because it says so in the Bible. or my version I like to use without making Christians defensive I know this email really is from the Price of Nigeria because it says so in the e-mail. The conclusion is that the email is real. The premise "it says so in the e-mail" assumes (without support) that the e-mail really is from the Prince of Nigeria. So now we can answer your question about committing this fallacy when answering the question by citing the studies which examine the health benefits of methylxanthines in cacao and chocolate. You would NOT be committing this fallacy because the studies do not simply assume that chocolate is good for you, they provide evidence for that conclusion. Hope this helps. |
| answered on Thursday, Mar 30, 2017 09:35:11 AM by Bo Bennett, PhD |
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Chocolate is not good for people who are allergic, so no study could conclude it is good for "you" if you were saying it to me. However chocolate is good for my love life which in turn is good for me so maybe it is healthful to me.
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| answered on Monday, Apr 10, 2017 02:58:32 AM by skips777 |
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