The theory and practice of argumentation and debate

by Victor Alvin Ketcham

A. Arguing in a circle.

This error involves more than one syllogism. It begins by assuming the truth of a premise, next upon this premise a conclusion is built and then finally this very conclusion is used in an attempt to prove the premise with which the syllogism was begun. For example, a student is urged to take the course in corporation law in the Harvard Law School because it is the best in the country. When the student inquires why it is the best in the country he is told that it is the best because it is given in the Harvard Law School. In other words no reason is given but the statement stripped of its semblance of reasoning is merely that the Harvard Law School is the best because it is the best.

An excellent example showing the refutation of a circular argument is found in Percival and Jelliffe’s Specimens of Exposition and Argument. It is taken from the argument of Felix Adler against the evils of child labor in the United States.

“There is one other argument so un-American and so inhuman that I am almost ashamed to quote it, and yet it has been used, and I fear is secretly in the minds of some who would not openly stand for it. A manufacturer standing near the furnace of a glasshouse and pointing to a procession of young Slav boys who were carrying the glass on trays, remarked ‘Look at their faces, and you will see that it is idle to take them from the glasshouse in order to give them an education; they are what they are, and will always remain what they are.’ He meant that there are some human beings—and these Slavs of the number—who are mentally irredeemable, so fast asleep intellectually that they cannot be awakened; designed by nature, therefore, to be hewers of wood and drawers of water. This cruel and wicked thing was said of Slavs; it is the same thing which has been said from time immemorial by the slave owners of their slaves. First they degrade human beings by denying them opportunity to develop their better nature; no schools, no teaching, no freedom, no outlook; and then, as if in mockery, they point to the degraded condition of their victims as a reason why they should never be allowed to escape from it.”

B. Directly assuming the point at issue.

In directly assuming the truth of the point at issue much language is employed which tends to conceal the lack of real proof. Stripped of their wealth of expression such so-called arguments appear as bare unsupported assertions. The following is a good example of this fallacy: “Up to the time when the crime was committed, the character of the prisoner was above reproach, for his conduct was always characterized by honest respect for law and order.”

Often a single word may directly assume the truth or falsity of the proposition under discussion. In opposing the proposition “Resolved, that the boycott is a proper policy for organized labor,” the first speaker began by saying, “It is our purpose to prove that the wicked and pernicious system of boycotting is not a proper policy for organized labor.” This statement begged the whole proposition by assuming at the outset that boycotting is wicked and pernicious. A subsequent speaker committed the same fallacy by saying, “We contend that there are ways by which organized labor can accomplish its purpose that are—unlike the boycott—legitimate and proper.” In some cases such question-begging words as those employed above are used in defining the terms of the proposition. This manner of defining terms begs the question as effectively and directly as any of the other fallacious practices discussed under this heading.

C. Indirectly assuming the point at issue.

One of the most common ways of begging the question is to assume the truth of a broad general proposition which includes the one under discussion. This does not directly assume the truth of the proposition, but does it indirectly. For instance, a student declared that “Our football team will win the championship, because the captain of the team says we cannot lose it.” This begs the point at issue, namely—whether our team will win the championship, by assuming the truth of a broader proposition, namely—that whatever the captain of the team says is true.

The same result follows the assumption of particular truths which the proposition involves. In supporting the proposition, “Resolved, that the state should prescribe uniform text-books for the public schools” a student attempted to prove that public instruction should be uniform throughout the state. He thus assumed that uniform text-books would secure uniform public instruction throughout the state. This was a particular proposition involved in the main proposition, and it was the duty of the debater to show that uniform text-books would bring about uniform public instruction.