The Language of Argument

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C H A P T E R 1 6 ■ F a l l a c i e s o f V a c u i t y

Here the first premise is true by definition, since calling something “mur-

der” implies that it is a wrongful killing. The second premise is, however,

question begging, for calling capital punishment murder assumes the point

at issue—that capital punishment is wrong. Capital punishment is obviously

killing, but whether it is murder in the sense of wrongful killing is precisely

what is disputed. As a result, anyone who objects to the conclusion would

or should raise exactly the same objections to the second premise, and one

could not give any adequate reason for the second premise without first ar-

guing for the conclusion.

More subtly than this, opponents of abortion typically refer to the hu-

man fetus as an unborn baby or simply as a baby. It may seem a matter

of indifference how the fetus is referred to, but this is not true. One of the

central points in the debate over abortion is whether the fetus has the sta-

tus of a person and, thus, has the rights that any person has. It is generally

acknowledged in modern societies that babies are persons and therefore

have the rights of persons. By referring to the fetus as an unborn baby (or

simply as a baby), a point that demands argument is taken for granted

without argument. That counts as begging the question. Of course, many

opponents of abortion argue for the claim that a human fetus has the moral

status of a person and, thus, do not beg this central question in the de-

bate. Still, if they give no such independent argument, then they do beg

the question.

Similarly, if someone argues for the pro-choice position simply on the

grounds that a woman has a right to control the destiny of her own body,

this also begs an important question, because it takes for granted the claim

that the fetus is part of a woman’s body, not an independent being with

rights of its own. Of course, defenders of the pro-choice position need not

beg the question in this way, but they often do. Whether a particular argu-

ment or premise is question begging will depend on whether there is a need

for an independent reason, which in turn depends on the context in which

the argument is given. One way for an argument to beg the question is for

it to rely, either explicitly or implicitly, on an unsupported premise that is a

matter of dispute in the particular argumentative context. Thus, referring to

a human fetus as a baby will be question begging in contexts in which the

moral status of the fetus is at issue, but it may not be question begging when

this is not an issue.

Because begging the question depends in this way on context, we

should be careful before charging opponents with begging the question.

Some people charge every opponent with begging the question, almost

like a knee-jerk reaction. However, even if an opponent uses a premise

that you reject, this does not yet show that the argument begs the ques-

tion, since your opponent might have plenty of independent evidence

for the premise. Before you accuse people of begging the question, you

should ask them to give you their reasons for the disputed premise. If

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