Is there a difference?

7 comments

1. Proper use is beg the question.

   But either one works contextually in a realistic scenario

2. This phrase is derived from the Latin term “petitio principii,” which translates to “assuming the initial point.” In logical fallacies, “beg the question” refers it’s when someone tries to prove a point by using the point itself as evidence.

   “Beg the issue” is less commonly used. It means evading the issue, implying that someone is sidestepping a topic or not addressing the main point.

3. There’s no difference

4. No, but both are commonly misused.

5. [Heres a good discussion](https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/beg-the-question), which gets into “beg the issue” at the end of the article.

   However, it’s a relatively recent article based on current usage, so it’s dangerous to assume it applies to something written in 1975. My sense is that prescriptivism was far more in vogue back then, so the explanation under the heading “Other Uses of Beg the Question” would have been more popular, though that still doesn’t address “beg the issue”.

   I’m inclined to go with that article, and interpret it as saying he didn’t evade the issue, but I can’t be sure.

   I wonder if r/literature would be a better place to ask this question.

   Edit: Though many people here, including the mods, go with [a classical definition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question), the article I cited, from no less an authority than Merriam-Webster, at a minimum calls into question whether the Wikipedia article is up to date.

6. I’ve only ever heard “beg the question”.

   Never heard “beg the issue”

   So,I can’t really give any opinion on how they differ.

   I can just say that I understand “beg the question”.

7. Beg the issue probably is a better translation of the Latin.

   People generally use beg the question to mean “raises the question” but that’s wrong.