3 ms·
Honesty it makes more sense in the modern usage. Assuming something which should have been proven seems like the opposite of begging for [someone to ask] a ques
by zaroth 7y ago
Honesty it makes more sense in the modern usage. Assuming something which should have been proven seems like the opposite of begging for [someone to ask] a question.
- everybodyknows 7y agoIn the original idiom, the "begging" is for acceptance of the speaker's claim on its face, rather than by "earning" agreement with supporting evidence and reasoning.
- thaumasiotes 7y agoThe "begging" is a mistranslation of medieval Latin petitio, "logical postulate", as if it were classical Latin petitio, "begging". The idiom descends in a continuous scholarly tradition from Aristotle and his original Greek refers more plainly to "assuming the original [conclusion]". See https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2290 https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2290 .