Fallacy of many questions

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Many questions, also known as complex question, presupposition, loaded question, "trick question", or plurium interrogationum (Latin, "of many questions"), is an informal fallacy or logical fallacy.^[1] It is committed when someone asks a question that presupposes something that has not been proven or accepted by all the people involved. This fallacy is often used rhetorically, so that the question limits direct replies to those that serve the questioner's agenda.^[1] An example of this is the question "Are you still beating your wife?" Whether the respondent answers yes or no, he will admit to having a wife, and having beaten her at some time in the past. Thus, these facts are presupposed by the question, and in this case an entrapment, because it narrows the respondent to a single answer, and the fallacy of many questions has been committed.^[1]

The fallacy relies upon context for its effect: the fact that a question presupposes something does not in itself make the question fallacious. Only when some of these presuppositions are not necessarily agreed to by the person who is asked the question does the argument containing them become fallacious.^[1]

A related fallacy is begging the question also known as 'circular reasoning',^[2] in which a premise is included that is likely to be at least as unacceptable to an opponent as the proposed conclusion.^[3]

[edit] Implied form

One form of misleading discourse is where something is implied without being said explicitly, by phrasing it as a question. For example, the question "Does Mr. Jones have a brother in the army?" does not claim that he does, but implies that there must be at least some indication that he does, or the question would not need to be asked.^[4] The person asking the question is thus protected from accusations of making false claims, but still manages to make the implication in the form of a hidden compound question. The fallacy isn't in the question itself, but rather in the listener's assumption that the question would not have been asked without some evidence to support the supposition. This example seems harmless, but consider: "Does Mr. Jones have a brother in jail?"

In order to have the desired effect, the question must imply something uncommon enough not to be asked without some evidence to the fact. For example, the question "Does Mr. Jones have a brother?" would not cause the listener to think there must be some evidence that he does, since this form of general question is frequently asked with no foreknowledge of the answer.

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Walton, Douglas. The Fallacy of Many Questions. University of Winnipeg. Retrieved on [[January 22, 2008]].
2. ^ Fallacy: Begging the Question The Nizkor Project. Retrieved on: January 22, 2008
3. ^ Carroll, Robert Todd. Begging the Question. The Skeptic's Dictionary.
4. ^ compound question, definition

[edit] External links

• Fallacy: Loaded Questions and Complex Claims Critical Thinking exercises. San Jose State University.
• Logical Fallacy: Loaded Question FallacyFiles.org