Begging the question

Logic founded on unproven premises / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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In classical rhetoric and logic, begging the question or assuming the conclusion (Latin: petitio principii) is an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it.

Bust of Aristotle, whose Prior Analytics contained an early discussion of this fallacy

For example:

  • "Green is the best color because it is the greenest of all colors"

This statement claims that the color green is the best because it is the greenest – which it presupposes is the best.

It is a type of circular reasoning: an argument that requires that the desired conclusion be true. This often occurs in an indirect way such that the fallacy's presence is hidden, or at least not easily apparent.[1]