Q&A: Begging the Question?
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Begging the Question?
Question
Report:
At the cabinet meeting they didn’t discuss the nature of the strike in Lebanon out of concern about leaks.
(How do we know that information? From a leak!)
This reminds me of circular reasoning / begging the question. But not as a fallacy.
Is that correct? Is that the definition? If so, is it right to say that this is begging the question but not as a logical fallacy? (It has a kind of positive feel to it.)
Answer
What’s circular here? What begging the question? It only turned out that they were right not to discuss secrets there, because there are leaks coming from there.
This report isn’t just a factual claim.
It’s an argument against certain ministers, namely that they leak.
The claim that there was such a leak here (about the fact that the plans were not spelled out) proves what is being claimed in the body of the report against the ministers — that they are leakers.
Isn’t that begging the question?