In which Wolf open day 24's door... Watch this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/jPVJethQBQM
Welcome to the Beware of Wolf Advent Calendar of Bad Thinking. To celebrate the holidays, I'm counting down the days until Christmas with a common type of bad thinking each day, described in 60 seconds. This holiday season, give the gift of good thinking by sharing these videos with your friends!
This is Day 24: "Begging the Question"
"Begging the Question" is also called a "circular argument," and it happens when someone tries to show something is true by assuming it's true.
They may or may not be right, but they can't support their case by simply saying it again.
A circular argument is usually a bit more subtle than simple repetition. But in the end, it doesn't really add any new information you can use to make up your mind about it.
Circular arguments frequently use the word "because," which signals us to expect sound reasons or good evidence, but then they fail to deliver.
Here are some examples:
"Free speech is important because society values it." This is basically saying the same thing twice.
"I know God exists because the Bible says he does, and I know the Bible is correct because it's the Word of God." This is appealing to the Bible's authority, but assuming it has authority because God exists, and the original question was about whether God exists.
One more example:
"Bad thinkers often use circular reasoning because that's what bad thinkers do." This is true but it doesn't teach us anything new about why bad thinkers do this.
Be a good thinker: don't beg the question you're trying to answer.
Happy holidays!