beg the questionとは 意味・読み方・使い方

動詞

beg the question (三人称単数 現在形 begs the question, 現在分詞 begging the question, 過去形および過去分詞形 begged the question)

1. (philosophy, logic, law) To engage in the logical fallacy of begging the question (petitio principii).
   • 1994, D. N. Walton, “Begging the question as a pragmatic fallacy.” Synthese, vol 100, no 1:

     The objection is that the argument begs the question, meaning that the premise, that God has all the virtues, assumes the conclusion, that God is benevolent.

2. To sidestep or fail to address a question.
   • 1860, Henry Adams, letter, 6 May

     However I hope we shall do better as we go on and as long as there's no dodging or begging the question on our side, I'm not afraid.

3. (sometimes proscribed) To raise or prompt a question.

   Three people were hurt in the fire at the warehouse last night, which begs the question: what were they doing there in the first place?

使用する際の注意点

• The first sense is not well understood except in specialized contexts, such as in academic and in legal argument. It is based on a sense of beg which is no longer common. It was a poor translation of the original term and was an inadequate description of the fallacy.
• The sense "sidestep or evade a question" is a simple development of the original sense that uses the expression to include any evasion rather than only one based on the logical fallacy.
• The sense “raise a question, prompt a question” is more recent and has been proscribed by some commentators, but is now included without comment in some dictionaries. Others suggest that the phrase is hard to understand in any event, and should be avoided, using instead phrases such as “assume the conclusion” (for philosophical sense), "evade the question" for failure to address the question, and “raise the question” or “prompt the question” (for the last sense).

関連する語

• begging the question