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Subject:Re: begging the question From:"Donald J. Plummer" <donp -at- BGNET -dot- BGSU -dot- EDU> Date:Thu, 12 Jun 1997 18:59:57 -0400
>Since I am the BTQ criminal give me at least five
>examples of its proper use.
>
>> The real meaning of "to beg the question" is: TO EMPLOY AN ARGUMENT
>> THAT
>> ASSUMES AS VALID THE VERY SAME ARGUMENT THAT ONE IS TRYING TO PROVE
>-- =
>
I only have one example offhand, but perhaps others will supply more.
The concept of question-begging is alive and well among rhetoricians and
writing teachers. I had the enjoyment of teaching first-year writing to
undergraduates as part of my graduate assistantship last year. The _Scott,
Foresman Handbook for Writers_, fourth edition, was one of out texts. In
the section discussing argumentative fallacies, the Handbook gives the
following definition of "begging the question":
"Assuming that audience members share basic assumptions and beliefs with
the arguer when in fact they don't."
It went on to say that when someone, while arguing, says something like,
"We all know?," or "Everyone believes?," that person may be engaging in
question-begging.
The example of question-begging I gave my students came from a student
writer from a previous term. In an (otherwise very well written) essay
arguing that meat-eaters consider adopting vegetarianism, she wrote, "We
all know that it is immoral to kill animals." Since her intended audience
was made of meat-eaters, this statement obviously presumed too much about
what that audience believed.
I hope this is helpful.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Donald J. Plummer
Department of English
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio
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