Begging the question

Arguing for a conclusion with premises that already assume that conclusion is true.

Also: petitio principii, circular reasoning, circular argument

What it means

An argument begs the question when its premises presuppose the very conclusion it is meant to establish, so it makes no real progress. In an example from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, someone argues that women should not fight bulls because a bullfighter is, and should be, a man, which simply restates the conclusion. Aristotle listed begging the question among his thirteen fallacies, describing it as asking for the very point one is supposed to prove. Richard Whately saw it as a disguised repetition of the same claim in different words. Because the conclusion does follow from such premises, some theorists treat begging the question as a failure of evidence rather than of logic.

The questions it belongs to

• 4.2.1 FallaciesWhen is a bad-looking argument actually bad?

Thinkers

• Aristotle
• Richard Whately

Traditions

• Greek & Roman
• Modern European

To read

• Categories — Aristotle
• Metaphysics — Aristotle
• Nicomachean Ethics — Aristotle

Sources and further reading

• Fallacies (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Fallacies (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Written by the Coordinates of Thought editors and checked against the sources above on 29 October 2026. Not peer-reviewed. How we write and check.

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