I still remember when I first consciously heard it.The phrase “begging the question,” I mean.I was a doctoral student at the time and one thing you do in grad school is ask a lot of questions.I asked my advisor what the phrase meant.“Asking a question when you’ve already assumed the answer,” he replied.I’ve been writing quite a lot about feedback loops these days, and this was yet another of them.Begging the question, in other words, is a fallacy where the asker isn’t seeking an answer, but is attempting to persuade another of a pre-decided outlook.The concept is subtle, but important.That’s why it disturbs me that most academics these days use the phrase “begs the question” when they mean “asks the question.”
I’m afraid I don’t have statistics here, but I read academese all day long—it’s my job.I can’t footnote where this occurs but I can attest that it happens all the time.Whenever I read “begs the question” I stop and reason it out.Does the author mean “begs” or “raises” or “poses” or “asks” the question?Begging a question isn’t the same as raising or posing or asking it since the latter three indicate an answer is being sought.Precision in thinking is difficult work.It can give you a headache. We all fail sometimes.Perhaps that’s why we eschew it, as a society.It’s much easier to beg the question.Still, doesn’t that mean this valuable concept is in danger of losing its, well, value?
I realize that posing such a question makes me sound like one of those old guys who says, “back when I was a youngster…” but the fact is the educational system in the United Kingdom made you ask lots of questions.In a way that’s unheard of over here, where money assures your credentials, I knew two students who failed out of the doctoral program at Edinburgh when I was there.One of them an American.It wasn’t just a matter of laying your money on the barrelhead and walking out the door with a diploma.I’ve read certified copies of dissertations (not from institutions in the United Kingdom) where Zeus was spelled “Zues” (throughout) and the biblical seer was called “Danial.”Now, I suppose that raises the question of the value of degrees where you don’t even need to spell your subject’s name correctly.Begging the question is a fallacy, not a synonym for asking.And I know that if your thesis begs a question then you’re barking up the wrong tree, but that won’t stop you from landing a job in the academy.