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What does the Phrase "begging the question" mean?
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tynamite
tynamite's avatar Begging the question, is the same thing as circular reasoning.
From now on, I'll say circular reasoning, as it makes things so much easier for me and you.

Circular Reasoning
Circular reasoning is when you use an assertion as a justification for your argument. In other words, circular reasoning is when you support a premise with a premise.

God is real because it says so in the Bible.
JLS is the best boyband because they're so amazing.
You should trust Alex because he knows what he's doing.
The police never harm anyone, because they'd never do that.
Basically, you are arguing your premise, by repeating your premise twice.
http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~shagin/logfal-pbc-circular.htm
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/graphics/adhom/circular.html

Sometimes people confuse begging the question, with a loaded question, so I'll explain what that is too.

Loaded Questions
A loaded question, is a question with a premise inside it that is claimed to be true in the question, so that when you answer with yes or no, the premise still stands (so it's like you agree).

"Don't you think that you shouldn't be doing that?"
"Can't you see that he's crying?"
The problem with such questions, is that even if you reply with the answer no, the premise would still stand.


  1. What if you should really be doing that?

  2. What if the person really isn't crying?
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What's an assertion, and what should I type in?

Compesh is a question and answer (and debate) website, so before you make a debate, you better learn what an assertion is. I suppose you already know what a question is, and that you've typed it in the box. ;)

An assertion, is basically a statement you can make, that is either true or false.

Richer people have better health.

The question for that would be, Do richer people have better health?

And don't forget to make your assertion, match your question.

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