Start the question means “to elicit a particular question in the form of a response or response” and can often be replaced by “a question asking for an answer.” However, a less commonly used and more formal definition is “to ignore a question under the assumption that it has been answered.” The phrase itself comes from a translation of an Aristotelian phrase that is translated as “questioning” but meaning “assume a conclusion”.
Question asked: that’s a weird phrase if you think about it, but most of us aren’t:
The US Postal Service says that private mail delivery is at an all-time low…. This begs the question: are open letters the only kind that the future will know? — Charlotte Alter, TimeDecember 2, 2015
Possibility, he said [Amartya] Sen, are the goals that economists should try to maximize…. That raises the question of what capacities society should maximize. — economistDecember 20, 2014
This isn’t the first time a fan has been injured by a hit ball or broken bat flying into the stands, and it won’t be the last. But that begs the question: Why are teams putting fans in jeopardy in the first place? — Matt Lindner, Chicago CourtAugust 25, 2015
What Does Beg the Question Really Mean
In each of these, question asked means “to get someone to ask a particular question as a response or response.” What homeless About? Why not “propose a question” or “ask a question”?
‘Begin the question’ is a formal logical phrase — that’s Aristotle’s interpretation of ‘petitio principii’ by a 16th-century translator. A better translation would be “assume the conclusion.”
It makes more sense in a newer version of the phrase. Since the 1960s, we’ve seen a steady rise of phrases like a question please answer And a question begets an answer:
Big data flows have enhanced granular targeting, and with the speed at which data is generated, a natural question to ask is “what’s next?” — Val Katayev, ForbesNovember 23, 2015
However, the question is: How can a team that only won one lane be so confident? — Janie McCauley, Related pressDecember 14, 2015
Another important question that needs to be answered is: what is worth at Yahoo to buy? — Leslie settles down, Wall Street ObserverDecember 5, 2015
These uses still trace question asked a lot, but they’re increasing—most likely because the logic in them is easier to see.
There is a section of the population that would be relieved if phrases like a question begets an answer normal replacement ask questions use. These are the people who think using question asked meaning “make someone ask a specific question as a response or response” is completely and completely wrong. There may be more of these people than you think, and they are judging the rest of us.
Other Usages of Beg the Question
For these people, the only “right” way to use the phrase question asked means “to ignore a question or problem by assuming it has been answered or resolved.” They think these examples are acceptable:
Rich parents send their daughters to all-girls schools; Why are the daughters of the poor not entitled to the same benefits? It’s an appeal that is sure to resonate, especially from sinister libertarians, but it raises the question of whether the daughters of the wealthy can benefit from an education. unisex or not. Perhaps they only benefit from being wealthy and attending elite private schools with favorable student-teacher ratios, superior facilities and curriculum. — Wendy Kaminer, AtlanticApril 1998
But the concept of a homunculus – a “small man” – inside the brain who observes the world on something like a small television is hard to explain, because it raises the question asked how the little man himself was able to perceive everything. Hidden within him must have been an even smaller man watching a smaller TV, and so on endlessly, like interlocking Chinese boxes. — Paul Hoffmann, DetectSeptember 1987
That’s the problem question asked This is very rarely used, as language blogger Stan Carey explains here. In our dictionary, this meaning is called “formal”.
However, the formal meaning helps us to find the origin of the phrase itself.
Origin of Beg the Question
Question asked is a formal logical phrase. We have to thank Aristotle for that—or indeed, an anonymous 16th-century translator who took Aristotle’s phrase principle of lawsuit and translate it into English as “beg the question.” A better translation would be “concluding assumptions”, as linguist Mark Liberman at Language Log explains; principle of lawsuit used to name the logical fallacy in which an argument assumes the very thing it is trying to prove. Here is an example:
If left to nature, children will naturally do the right thing because human nature is good.
This statement attempts to demonstrate that children will naturally do the right thing by using the unproven assertion that humans are intrinsically good. That assertion is problematic because it is just a broader version of what is being proved.
So that’s where question asked where it comes from, but all of this, ahem, raises the question of what you should do with all your knowledge of this phrase. Liberman advises people to avoid it altogether (but also “cultivate a calm attitude in the face of other people’s use of it”).
You can take his recommendation, or you can use question asked means “to cause someone to ask a particular question as a response or response” or “to ignore a question or problem by assuming it has been answered or resolved.” Both uses are established and the first usage is very common.
One more little problem here: the meaning of “skip a question or problem” of question asked has led to a sense of begging to be defined as “to evade” or “to go sideways.” It is often found in phrases like “beg the issue” or “beg the point”:
Some of you may quickly notice that steroids and other PEDs [performance enhancing drugs] prohibited. It’s cheating to use them. But not because of that surgery, but completely above and below up. But this only poses a problem. Why ban the use of energy drugs but not the surgery? — Alva Noe, NPR.orgJuly 26, 2013
The haters don’t like it either, but it’s also fully established.
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
