Violating the Principle of Rational Discussion: Begging the Question Fallacy

Violating the Principle of Rational Discussion: Begging the Question Fallacy

Begging the Question is basically a type of logical fallacy in which an argument asks the reader to accept the conclusion without providing any real evidence.. Why is “begging the question” considered a fallacy? Because simply assuming the conclusion to be true in the premises does not give evidence to prove that conclusion.

Example:
John: Driving on the right side of the road is necessary. (Conclusion)
Kim: Why is it necessary?
John: Because the law says so. (Premise)

In the example provided, John makes the argument driving on the right side of the road is a necessary. However, he hasn’t really provided any evidence on why that is necessary. He just left Kim asking the question, “Why is it necessary?”. By asking that. she is actually questioning the law. It can be seen that John’s argument is begging the question when he replies to Kim by saying “because the law says so”. By doing so, John is actually assuming the validity of Kim’s question.