Adventure Gamers - Forums

Phlebas - 24 May 2017 05:07 AM

Close, Jabod - that is how a lot of people use the phrase. Technically “begging the question” doesn’t just mean having a hole in your reasoning, it specifically means circular reasoning - it’s when you assume the conclusion is true in trying to prove it.

So it’s not just saying ‘God exists because the Bible says so’ and leaving open the question of why you’d believe the Bible. It’s saying “God exists because the Bible says so - and that must be true because God wrote it!”

“We know Guybrush Threepwood is the mightiest pirate ever because Guybrush Threepwood says so - and he should know because he’s the mightiest pirate ever!”

I think you missed this bit in my original Phlebas:

Jabod - 23 May 2017 03:27 PM

That isn’t “begging the question” Becky as you’ve asked a specific question.

Where someone states something and, in attempting to prove it, cycles back to their starting point to the recipient of the statement it will “beg the question”, the question being “where is the proof for that”.

Bold added to highlight

Phlebas - 24 May 2017 07:36 AM

I had missed that - my apologies. I think because your examples weren’t explicitly circular I didn’t notice that the definition was entirely correct

Not wanting to drag this out, or even further off thread topic , where something is clearly self-referential (in my examples God/bible, Adventure Games/Adventure Gamers website) then it is cyclical and it does lead to “it begs the question”. In my second example if the originator had said “because Richard Cobbett says so” then a reasonable follow up would be “who the hell is Richard Cobbett?” and then have an ongoing discussion.