What is the informal fallacy “Begging the Question” in layman’s terms?
In: 95
You can think of it as an argument in which the supporting reasons pre-suppose the conclusion. Let’s say for example we’re arguing about abortion. I am arguing that abortion is wrong. I give you as a reason for my position the premise that abortion kills babies, and it’s wrong to kill babies, so abortion is wrong. Notice how the premise (abortion kills babies) seems like a conclusion of my own position? A lot of people think abortion is justified precisely because it’s not a baby that’s being killed.
A good argument should use true and relatively uncontroversial premises to yield a conclusion. Begging the question slips in as a premise the very thing that should be demonstrated in the conclusion. A lot of times it’s less obvious than the example I gave, usually the wording will be different. But people do it all the time, probably without even realizing it
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