Here’s Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (not to be confused with the Merriam usage guide cited above): “beg the question: 1. to elicit a question logically as a reaction or response.

The examples of begging the question we've given so far involve circular reasoning. To reason circularly is just to give a reason that brings you back to the conclusion, either by presupposing the ...

This is also known as “begging the question." This fallacy occurs when one assumes the truth of what one is attempting to prove in the very effort to prove it.

The misuse of “begging the question” has been bugging me for years. I thought I had written a column about it, but it turns out it was a blog entry a few years ago.

I found a few examples of incorrect usage. • "Yale College Dean Marvin Chun told the Yale Daily News that the demonstration begs the question of how students should stage protests." ...

The angry Web site BegTheQuestion.info (motto: "Get it Right") defines it as "a logical fallacy in which an argument is assumed to be true without evidence other than the argument itself." ...

But that begs the question, and Taubes provides no scientific evidence to back up that claim." I am so glad Kolata used that correctly. I found a few examples of incorrect usage.