0:06them0:13this video is about another fallacy and I'm actually going to be interpreting it0:18in a %uh strict sense0:20a little bit more strict and certain logic or critical thinking text books0:23call begging the question0:25on what we're gonna do in this video is the usual0:29eight things we're gonna talk about what begging the question is interest specify0:33the meaning of the app0:34we're going to look at the structure of the0:37argument involved in begging the question really talk about why it's a0:41fallacy what's going wrong with with reasoning or inference argumentation in0:46this case0:47will on examine some common situations in which this is likely to become an0:52issue0:53will then look at three specific examples to0:57provide you some some you know ideas about what this looks like when when it1:01happens1:02will I'm than talk about how to spot this fallacy1:06are some some guidelines some pointers for that for those who are students who1:10need to be able to distinguish this from other fallacies1:13will talk about what this fallacy typically gets mistaken for1:16he and will finish up by talking about how you1:20if you want to be a critical thinker can try to you know1:24how make yourself into the cat person is not going to get taken in at this1:28who's not going to do this with other people was not going to fall into this1:31was our dispositions1:33do you need to cultivate so what is begging the question1:37that is a very interesting one right there1:41I want to point out from the start that this he has a few classic1:46

synonyms the a tutsi open kitty1:49%uh the history on pro tour on you don't necessarily need to know those although1:54it can be helpful because1:55you think about what they damian ones Latin ones Greek1:59what is begging the question so in2:02when you're doing that a claim is being advanced and the basis for the claim2:08in the argument is simply a Restatement up the original claim and some other2:13form2:14so if we want to put this in other terms the premise ease2:18up the arguments in some way include the conclusions being smuggled it2:24right2:24it's being you know brought him under a different guys2:28so when the premises then are certain to be true it looks like the conclusion2:32follows when really all you've done is said the same thing twice2:36with different words often the restatement of the claim will work with2:41their certain techniques you can use that this2:43through moving from the abstract to the concrete you know you change the2:48terminology a bit2:49or from ordinary language to more technical or2:52elevated language english is great for this because we have so many words2:56they came to us from anglo-saxon and so many they came from3:00in a French and Latin and CT scan to change the3:03Adam ology and it sounds like you're saying something different now3:07this is a very important point despite3:12popular late modern usage especially on talking head politics shows3:18or culture shows begging the question3:22is not simply making an unstated assertion3:25or assumptions yeah unstated assumption or leaving some other question3:30open or unanswered that's not begging the question3:35that's not what it means in the classic sense I know that a lot of people say3:38

things like that3:39%uh but those people at Lisa for doing critical thinking3:42are technically wrong I'm3:45what they mean is that there's some sort of implicit promise3:49or there's something else that hasn't been answered on3:53so you wanna be careful with that now let's look at the structure the fallacy3:57in this version4:01%uh that I said I said we're looking at it in a strict sense rights that's not4:05including circular argumentation we're just looking at4:08begging the question you've got some promise that's we're gonna call claim4:12why4:12claim why is really claim axe restated in some other way4:17the conclusion is going to be there for clay max is true4:21so you're saying claim all I therefore clay max4:25but claim why is really the same thing as clay max4:29and what are the possible promises that perhaps a person doing this is not4:33realizing that they're doing it4:35isn't in4:36no assuming is that claim why is in some way not the same thing as clay max when4:41that's not really the case4:43so the structure this is extraordinarily simple4:47you just have claim why which amounts to claim4:50axe articulated in some different sounding manner some different ways in4:55different words4:56and then that's being used to say that claim axe4:59is true I'm very simple structure when you look at5:03now why is a fallacy I think this is probably pretty commonsensical a lot of5:09people can see this when we5:10actually mapped it out there's no actual ground being provided for why you should5:15accept claim

5:16axe in the first place yours repeating it it sorta like saying5:19well why should go to the store workers which got a star why should we go to the5:23movies5:24Roach go to the movies not somebody doesn't like that5:27that bald face Glee right then it's very easy to say well that's that's not any5:32reason at all5:33when so many changes around then5:36it's a little bit easier to be taken in I'm5:40what's interesting about this is while there appears to be some sort of5:43structure a argument your inference5:46there really isn't any other than just axe therefore5:49axe and if axes the thing is being called in question5:54you can go from the first tax to the second axe because you don't have the5:58the X in the first place it's not been something granted6:01so I'm what are some common situations6:05in which this occurs I seen this happen a lot6:08in situations where people either don't realize that the claim is being restated6:13or where it's being done in a minute appeal to the way to try to trick the6:17audience6:18on by by using different vocabulary it occurs in a lot of different contexts6:23ranging from marketing and advertising we're gonna see some like that in just a6:28moment6:28to politics a.m. policy-making a lot ok political discussions6:33lot of political speeches just consistent saying the same thing over6:37and over again6:38but changing around the verbiage I'm6:42education this is a problem I often6:46I actually have a professor one time6:48I'm whose response to being a6:51ask critical questions about a particular passage in the taxed

6:56was to go back and then read the text and say well we'll see7:00site it's a look I think that that took I was wrong on this because he7:06XYZ and then you'll see it's a well7:10let's take a look at that and and there was never any7:13response going out he thought that simply by7:16restating what hits the first place that somehow7:20it would just become clear to us and that would that would deal with the7:23problem7:23that's really question banking in a in a certain way7:26just on a higher-order level our religion7:30sometimes people will just restate things you know using fancy terminology7:35derived from Latin or Greek ur7:37are you know other languages on7:40is particularly initiation to put on there as well7:44in New Age is sorta things where people are talking about or7:48Hazare you know they define the already it's just you know some other7:52verbiage that's being used a medicine and psychotherapy7:56this is offered a problem lot doctors8:00actually engaged in this sort of thing as a way to8:04obfuscate so that patients are to8:07alarmed right those tell you the same thing twice8:11I'm psychotherapy can often involve this sorta thing is sometimes where the8:16practitioner immerse I'll8:17gets taken in by their own begging the question8:21discussions at the static matters you know what's cool what's not cool what8:26makes it cool8:27on United's restated in some other way and the action8:31can be an issue on you know it also thinking about whether something falls8:36within a particular genre or not8:38could be a a matter like that we're talking about a statics

8:42now let's talk about a few funny examples8:45I like this one out why pop music is so popular8:49made up this band a while back if I number right8:53goo Gaga has the hottest new band they're just chilling everywhere on the8:57charts in record sales and selling out concert club dates9:01what makes them so hot you ask everyone wants to play in purchase their music9:05fans can't get enough for this stuff9:07well what does it mean9:10to actually P killing it everywhere9:14to be so hot it means that people by their records are by their mp3 search9:19by their concert tickets are where their t-shirts ruin after I9:22it's a saying the same thing twice but it sounds as if you're saying two9:26different things in this case9:28let's leave the second example I call this a bad anti-capitalist argument 3 to9:33be reasons to be against capitalism in9:35in general or in particulars but this is not a particularly good argument here9:40any sort of market-based system is going to require that some people be involved9:44in productive labor9:46but productive labor to market-based economy always entails a good be9:49produced through appropriating the labor others unfairly9:52therefore all capital systems are necessarily exploitative for the workers9:56labor9:57was exploited mean exploitative means that there's some serve appropriate10:02shove the labor10:03it you know others unfairly so it's basically saying10:06will be no all capital systems are exploited labor's10:10the workers labor why because all capital systems10:13are necessarily exploded over the labor %uh the workers labor it's just saying10:18the same thing10:18twice and this can often happen when people are using a lot of technical

10:24vocabulary see this a lot in political philosophy discussions10:28I here's an interesting one called cheaters gonna cheat10:32he's always been to the philandering mattress and duplicitous character you10:37can trust anyone10:38who has those qualities to respect legitimate boundaries and limits on the10:41marital bond you know he's gonna cheat on you10:43so the conclusion is gonna cheat on you I10:46and all that other stuff that's been said their is basically saying he's10:50gonna cheat on you10:51his Ave philandering which is cheating just10:55character right and duplicitous character lying right you can trust11:00anyone to respect those11:01the legitimate boundaries limit so the marital bond was i mean11:05cheating right so this is the whole bunch of verbiage11:09you know in the in the premises being thrown in there11:12to arrive at the same place where you started he's gonna cheat11:16on never been actually you know made clear11:20that to any of this stuff is is in fact true because it's just11:24axe therefore axe now how do you spot11:28begging the question how what should you be on the lookout for when you're11:32considering an argument examine the terms that are being used11:35in the argument are the terms that are being used in the conclusion11:40showing up in the primacy is some other should be11:43because cuz otherwise you don't have an argument are you have a non sequitur11:46up but in a restated form that conceals the fact that their actually the same11:52terms that's the problem there you wanna watch out for that sort of thing11:56one way you can do this is by making sure that something additional so what's12:01contained in the conclusion12:03is really being supplied in the premises12:06because the promises are supposed to provide some grounds for you to believe

12:10the conclusion if you are we believe the conclusion there wouldn't be any12:13argument the first place12:14so the promises are supposed to give you something ac stress something additional12:19and if they're not doing that then you may have this fallacy12:23also look carefully at the premises to discern what would be12:27what would need to be true are accepted in order for the primacy is themselves12:31to be12:32accepted if the answer is at the conclusion should be true accepted12:36then be on guard against this felsic there could be other cases12:40I love fallacies that involved thats I don't wanna say automatically12:44that that's going to be begging the question but you should be on your guard12:48now this leads us to how do you distinguish this from12:51other fallacies right and there's two main fallacies that this gets mixed up12:56what are these is what we call complex question13:01I'm when you're asking a complex question13:04the there's assumptions being made in the question the13:07the you know Bob perfect example that is have you could beating your wife13:12right yes she answer you ask than you know why repeating her in the first13:15place13:16if you answered no are you still beating your wife notices assumptions being13:19built in there13:21it kinda looks like bagging the question and13:24if you're the kind of person who tends to13:27use begging the question in the sloppy13:31late modern meaning assumptions are being made can away13:36then you will very easily confuse bagging the question13:40with complex question so that's why13:43you'd want to distinguish them right that's why you want to be careful with13:48your terminology13:49

you can also be mistaken for what we call a circular argument13:54and in a circular argument the premise sees13:58are assuming something they're suing the truth so the conclusion rather than14:02than actually leading to the truth to the conclusion in order for the promises14:06to be true the conclusion in some way needs to be granted there's some14:09circular arrangement going on there not here to talk about that in a in a14:14separate video14:15because it is really structurally a different kind of argument it's similar14:19to begging the question14:20some logic text books kinda I'm14:23you know in my view non rigorously lump the two of them together14:28but structurally they're not quite the same so we do want to be able to14:32distinguish those14:33if you're taking a class where the professor of course is using one of14:37those tax books like say her lease for example14:39I'm well you better do with the professor wants you to do and classify14:43it that way14:44but if we're being very exacting rigorous about this14:47begging the question is something slightly different that a circular14:50argument now14:52not every case where the terms are being restated from the conclusion to the14:55premises14:56are necessarily begging the question so I don't want you to jump in15:00and automatically assume that if there's been some sort of vocabulary change from15:04one to the other15:05that is begging the question is there something being added15:08in the primacy is that will support the conclusion15:11then it's it's probably going to be you know either a good argument on its own15:16face or15:16there something else wrong with not disrupt last

15:20I'm how do you avoid falling into this fallacy15:25when you're engaging in making a case15:28using arguments right make sure that your15:32actually providing grounds15:34reasons for the claim they are making that are15:37in some way different than the claim that you're trying to get people to15:43accept15:43provide privacy is that are actually different15:47though having the same you know overlap in some degree15:50love terms than the conclusion because otherwise you're you're likely to fall15:55into this15:55also you know be careful with terminology don't don't allow words 2216:00get you all mixed up don't allow them to seduce you16:04I'm don't use the thesaurus for example the try to make arguments don't assume16:08that because terms are like sickly different16:10that they don't actually refer to the same thanks sometimes they do16:14a.m. if you find yourself restating a conclusion and providing some privacy is16:19as justification16:21if you fall into the fallacy that is see if you can provide some independent16:26justification that somebody else who16:28you know saw the problem with that could accept see if there's some other way to16:32argue for the point that you wanna make16:34last thing I'm gonna say is that this video is part16:38%uh a entire series on the informal fallacies16:42which in turn is part of a much larger channel16:45devoted specifically to critical thinking logic in argumentation16:49so if you enjoy this video if you enjoyed this sort of stuff come back to16:53the channel16:53share it with other people I and I'll pass it around this is very helpful16:58stuff

16:58in continuing your own process for becoming a better critical thinker17:09the