beg the question

English

Etymology

From Latin petitio principii, from Ancient Greek τὸ ἐν ἀρχῇ αἰτεῖσθαι (tò en arkhêi aiteîsthai, “to assume from the beginning”).

Verb

beg the question (third-person singular simple present begs the question, present participle begging the question, simple past and past participle begged the question)

1. (philosophy, logic, law) To engage in the logical fallacy of begging the question (petitio principii).
   • 1994, D. N. Walton, “Begging the question as a pragmatic fallacy.”, in Synthese, volume 100, number 1:

     The objection is that the argument begs the question, meaning that the premise, that God has all the virtues, assumes the conclusion, that God is benevolent.

2. To sidestep or fail to address a question.
   • 1860, Henry Adams, letter, 6 May

     However I hope we shall do better as we go on and as long as there's no dodging or begging the question on our side, I'm not afraid.

3. (sometimes proscribed) To raise or prompt a question.

   Three people were hurt in the fire at the warehouse last night, which begs the question: what were they doing there in the first place?

   • 2024 March 6, Steve Edwards discusses with Anthony Lambert, “The bedrock of urban renewal”, in RAIL, number 1004, page 35:

     Invariably, the principal object is to improve air quality. But those constraints beg the question: why has no city followed Nottingham's example of a workplace parking levy, which has generated about £10 million a year to finance the city's tram system?

Usage notes

• The first sense is not well understood except in specialized contexts, such as in academic and in legal argument. It is based on a sense of beg which is no longer common. It was a poor translation of the original term and was an inadequate description of the fallacy.
• The sense "sidestep or evade a question" is a simple development of the original sense that uses the expression to include any evasion rather than only one based on the logical fallacy.
• The sense “raise a question, prompt a question” is more recent and has been proscribed by some commentators, but is now included without comment in some dictionaries. Others suggest that the phrase is hard to understand in any event, and should be avoided, using instead phrases such as “assume the conclusion” (for philosophical sense), "evade the question" for failure to address the question, and “raise the question” or “prompt the question” (for the last sense).

Related terms

• begging the question

Translations

to engage in the logical fallacy of begging the question (petitio principii)

• Finnish: olettaa johtopäätös todeksi, esittää kehäpäätelmä

to sidestep or fail to address a question

• Finnish: sivuuttaa kysymys

to raise or prompt a question

• Finnish: herättää kysymys
• German: zu der Frage drängen, die Frage hervorrufen
• Spanish: surgir la pregunta, llevar a preguntarse

See also

• question the question

References

• Michael Quinion (2004) “Beg the question”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.