Beg the question

I know the battle is lost here, but I want to fight a rearguard action and die trying.

Many writers,  journalists in particular  love  to say, This begs the question whether... when all they really mean is: This poses the question  or This raises the question or This asks the question.

We are better than this.

Strictly speaking, to beg the question  means to provide an explanation that is no explanation at all. It is when you use a because clause that gives no reason and thereby creates a recursive logic.

If an argument seems to be circling back on itself, it may be "begging the question,"  or, to use a less confusing phrase it is probably "assuming the conclusion."

I hate him because he is hateful.  This is begging the question. It pretends to give an explanation, but leaves us no wiser. It essentially means I hate him because, well, I think he is hateful, which is why I hate him. 

I dislike the Germans because they are European.  This begs the question (i.e. fails to answer) why the author dislikes Europeans so much (one fears his answer will probably be because they include the Germans).

Here are a few more:

God is good because, being God, He is perfect by definition.

My wife cooks better than me because I do not cook nearly as well as her.

You ate all the food in the fridge, which is unfair because we agreed to keep it  for whoever was hungriest, which is now me because now there's nothing in the fridge for me to eat.

I find the explanations in this lesson incomprehensible because I cannot understand any of them.