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I promised an entry on “beg the question.” Here it is.
When you hear the phrase “beg the question” in modern conversation, it is almost invariably used incorrectly. Newscasters are extremely fond of using it, but they are mis-using it to be a synonym for “raise the question.”
For example, Corey Lidle’s plane
crashes into a
Why not?
“Begging the question” is a term used in logic, debate and discourse for millennia. It means, essentially, to argue that something is true because it is true. It is a form of circular logic. When you are trying to prove a point in logic, you start with a base set of assumptions. If you then logically arrive at the point from those assumptions, you can have been said to have proven it. However, if you end up assuming your point in order to attempt to prove it, you have proven nothing; you are begging your question (the “question” is the point you intended to prove.)
An example would help. Let’s suppose I set out to prove that “X should be illegal.” I can start by arguing that if something is wrong, it should be illegal. (We might not agree that’s true, but for the sake of argument, let’s.) Then, perhaps I assert that breaking the law is wrong – which most of us can agree to. But then, if I point out that “X is illegal, hence X is against the law, hence X is wrong, hence X should be illegal” I am using circular logic. I have argued that something is true because it is true. I am guilty of begging the question.
Here’s one of the entries I found when I looked up “beg the question” at Dictionary.com:
beg the question
Take for granted or assume the truth of the very thing being questioned. For example, Shopping now for a dress to wear to the ceremony is really begging the question - she hasn't been invited yet. This phrase, whose roots are in Aristotle's writings on logic, came into English in the late 1500s. In the 1990s, however, people sometimes used the phrase as a synonym of "ask the question" (as in The article begs the question: "What are we afraid of?").
Now, I think the example the citation uses is not quite what Aristotle was thinking about, but you can see that the misuse of the phrase began recently.
To me, this is an example of how our language is losing its effectiveness. We have a perfectly good, meaningful phrase being distorted to mean something else – and we have plenty of good phrases which could be used instead.
My personal opinion on why this misuse occurs is this: people want to sound intelligent, so they use a phrase they have heard other intelligent people use – but they use it incorrectly.
Citations and references.
As is often the case, Wikipedia has a great explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beg_the_question
beg the question. (n.d.). The
American Heritage? Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Retrieved
I try to keep track of the movies I've watched, and what I thought of them. I figured I'd post the most recent list, so here is a link to that. These are not all of the movies we've watched lately -- some of the others have entries further up in the main file in which I track these things. For example, we saw The Matrix and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade during this period also, but for movies we see often, I just add another "viewed" date.
As you can see, the number of movies is pretty long. Once school is out (and the network shows are done with their seasons) we hit the DVDs pretty hard. I love the "MVP" membership at Hollywood Video. $15/month gets me all the movies I want to see -- as long as I'm willing to wait until a DVD is 6-8 weeks old before I view it.
This is actually pretty easy to do. There are DVDs I will buy as soon as they come out, so I don't need to rent them. For anything else, I can wait. The only real danger is movies which have their DVD release at the end of the summer. Those I might forget about before we do another stretch of DVD renting.
Oh, in case it's interesting, the "Rating" I use is a 100-point scale. Generally speaking, I will consider buying a movie if I score it 80 or above.
Interested to know what the highest and lowest scores I've ever given are? Ask!
24
I think, these days, may people think of the Keifer Sutherland TV show.
Then there is "hours -- as in 24 hours in a day."
What else?
24 is two dozen. So that is helpful. Two dozen of something is a good amount. And an expensive amount, if you get the right thing. But it could make an impression. I hope it does!
24 karat gold is pure. So 24 can make you think of wealth, or preciousness, or purity.
24 is a cool number in a few ways:
What else? 24 inches is two feet. I have two feet. So does Sherry. Does that help?
I've been wracking my brain. Aside from the two dozen things, I can't think of anything affordable that represents 24. Believe me, 24 Karat gold is just not affordable, in any meaningful amount. An ounce is, like, $700 or so.
Now it is critical that you not go talking about this blog entry to Sherry -- at least not until after Monday. But if you want to send me an e-mail with some cool idea, feel free!
I know how disheartening that can be -- checking a blog that doesn't update.
For example, every time I view my blog, it doesn't have anything new in it.
So, you see, I know exactly how it feels.
So, this entry marks a new start. Let's see if I can come up with anything to say.