4 ms·
Which begs the question as to why this is on imdb at all? Is imdb syndicating their "film news"?
by aditya 17y ago
Which begs the question as to why this is on imdb at all? Is imdb syndicating their "film news"?
- FreeRadical 17y agoMaybe just raising awareness
- idlewords 17y agohttp://begthequestion.info/ http://begthequestion.info/
- wheels 17y agoThat site, and implicitly, your post, are negligent of the fact that things with precise formal meanings often creep into the realm of being figures of speech. When someone says, "It doesn't follow that..." they don't mean, "there exists no proof which verifies A -> B" they mean, "that doesn't make sense". There is certainly a place for precise terminology, but it's not necessary in casual conversation.
- scott_s 17y agoYour example and "begs the question" are different cases. In your example, when people say "it doesn't follow that" they mean one can't draw the following conclusion from what has been said. That's the same meaning as in the technical sense. The only difference is that in a technical context, there's a whole lot more evidence backing up the statement. It's a difference of degrees, not fundamental meaning. On the other hand, "begs the question" is a logical fallacy in the technical sense; it means someone has assumed what they were trying to prove. It has no relationship with "raises the question." They're not trying to say the same thing.
- jules 17y agoIt's easier to change what the minority thinks it means than what the majority thinks it means.
- jrockway 17y agoNo it's not. The majority arrived at its conclusion by coincidence. The minority arrived at its conclusion by research and thinking. It is much easier to convince the majority, as the minority is not going to be receptive to your argument.
- evgen 17y agoAKA "I'd rather be popular than be right"
- eli 17y agoTrue, though some people firmly believe that the dictionary has the "right" definition and other definitions are "wrong." Others (like myself) believe that the dictionary is just a catalog of how people actually use words and that if there's a disconnect, it's because the dictionary is out of date.
- sketerpot 17y agoI prefer to avoid using the phrase entirely. Can we deprecate parts of language? That seems like the easiest solution.
- ThinkWriteMute 17y agoRaises the question. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question#Modern_usage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question#Modern_usa...) Though I guess I should give up at this point.
- mcantor 17y agoNever give up. Never surrender!