Nancy Wilson repeatedly begs the question wrongly

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Joel Johannesen
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As promised in an earlier entry, here’s my follow-up on the state-owned CBC’s Nancy Wilson this morning, who was once again misusing the term “begs the question.”  She’d said:

“So obviously some innovation being applied here to to uh stick to the green theme but uh Anne as you can appreciate it it seems like yet another mega events in a way uh in a parade of a lot of events still for a worthy cause —I guess it begs the question—how effective can these mega shows be?”

As I said:

No it doesn’t “beg the question”, Mizzz Wilson … It’s the wrong use of the term “begs the question”, once again (and no, it’s not “very interesting” either, Mizzzz Wilson.  It’s just a bad habit or worse—lack of proper education).  She simply doesn’t understand how to use the term properly.  As she often is, she was looking for the term “raises the question”.  

I had to appeal to a couple of sources to find info on this, a lesson I originally learned in either English classes or in Logic classes —both in first year university, or it was self-taught —I don’t remember. Here’s the more succinct explanation from the invaluable  Paul Brians’ Common Errors in English:

“An argument that improperly assumes as true the very point the speaker is trying to argue for is said in formal logic to “beg the question.” Here is an example of a question-begging argument: “This painting is trash because it is obviously worthless.” The speaker is simply asserting the worthlessness of the work, not presenting any evidence to demonstrate that this is in fact the case. Since we never use “begs” with this odd meaning (“to improperly take for granted”) in any other phrase, many people mistakenly suppose the phrase implies something quite different: that the argument demands that a question about it be asked—raises the question. If you’re not comfortable with formal terms of logic, it’s best to stay away from this phrase, or risk embarrassing yourself.” [original post now revised somewhat –PTBC editor]

I hope Mizzz Wilson takes that cheery advise Paul Brians added at the very end.

Here’s another good link.

Here’s a quick and dirty explanation:

If someone says “ABC is bad because it’s wrong,” they’re begging the question. They’re making a claim totally lacking in supporting facts, or using a circular argument in order to bolster their case.

“The car is costly because it’s worth a lot.” That begs the question. Period. Do not, at this point, raise a question!

Joel Johannesen
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