… I hate, hate — with a burning passion — the modern use of the phrase “begs the question”. That’s NOT what it means, damn it!! “Begs the question” is a translation of the Latin petitio principii, which is a time-hallowed description of one of the most common of mankind’s logical fallacies — an “argument” that assumes the conclusion in the premises. Please don’t ever use “begs the question” in the modern sense — the fact that we don’t know what it actually means is one of the reason it’s so depressingly common today.
Severian, “Mental Middlemen II: Sex and the City and Self-Confidence”, Rotten Chestnuts, 2021-05-06.
