A Sign of the Collapse of Western Civilization

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Even academics cannot differentiate between raising a question and begging a question:

"'At the end of the day, it begs the question of what was she thinking,' Windmeyer said."

Comments

  1. Anonymous5:01 PM

    Academics aren't into logic these days? Imagine the horror I felt ...

    However, the guy that said that quote is this guy: http://www.shanewindmeyer.com/

    Hardly an academic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. rob10:23 PM

    Perhaps the phrase is in the process of changing meanings. This happens quite frequently with words and phrases in a living languages like English.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gcallah12:08 PM

      Really? I never knew that.

      Delete
    2. rob4:58 PM

      This begs the question of whether you are being sarcastic.

      Living languages change the meaning of words over time because people change their understanding of what those words mean. Is that begging the question?






      Delete
    3. gcallah5:00 PM

      Yes, I was.

      Languages change. But they also need curmudgeons to resist the change, for balance. The latter is my job.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous5:16 PM

      And Mine!!!

      Seriously, though. This is quite a bit deeper than just a change in a word's meaning, there are so many human cognitive levels at play here. There's a whole concept(s) behind that meaning, and it's(they've) been entirely twisted.

      Do you realize how many people use this phrase without ever actually knowing what it means? I mean, it's so common. That's how ideas get lost. And if the idea is good, then that's certainly a bad thing.

      Delete
  3. rob10:56 PM

    See the section "modern usage" in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pedro3:15 PM

    And the grammar is wrong, too.

    ReplyDelete

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