Question-Begging

Question-Begging

“So, what about ‘beg the question’? This is probably the most widely misused expression in the language. I don’t propose to explain what it means. People with degrees in philosophy have no trouble understanding it. The rest of us find it virtually ungraspable. There are only two things you need to know about ‘beg the question’. The first is that it is not the same as ‘raise the question’ — which is the expression the writer of the Johansson item should have used. The second is this: don’t write ‘beg the question’ — ever.”