Mea Culpa: a logical fallacy going begging

Questions of style and language in The Independent last week, reviewed by John Rentoul

Chilling out: black-winged stilts are visiting Britain due to global warming (PA)

We used the phrase “begs the question” a couple of times last week, as a way of saying that something “poses the question”. The objection to this is old-fashioned, because almost no one now uses “begging the question” in its original sense of making the error of assuming the truth of a proposition to be proved. In formal logic, to say, “God exists because the Bible says so, and the Bible is true because it is God’s word,” is to beg the question.

Language changes, and “begs” is used to mean “poses”, so that is what it means. But there are still enough people around who think this use is “wrong”, so we should avoid it, in our own interest.

Hot and cold: We used a clashing metaphor in an article about bird migration, saying: “Though it is a chilling sign for the climate, birdwatchers are delighted by the rare visit from the black-winged stilts.” Thanks to John Harrison for pointing out the paradox of being chilled by evidence of global warming. We needed a “worrying” or an “alarming” sign for the climate, I think.