In chapter 3, Epstein defines the term "begging the question". In the author's words an argument begs the question if one if its premises is no more plausible than the conclusion and any argument that begs the question is bad.
Last week a friend of mine said "women and Asians are the worst drivers. So Asian women are the worst drivers on the road." His reasons were that they drove too slow and were just bad at driving in general. His argument begs the question because he is stereotyping drivers according to their gender and race from his own experience. He does not have any supported statistics to prove his "theory". His premises are not plausible because they are not necessarily true and his conclusion is not plausible either because they are based on those untrue premises. In fact based on real statistics the most dangerous drivers on the road are teenage boys. His argument could have been valid if he had more than his two life experiences on the road.
I think you did a good job explaining the concept of begging the question. You made sure to not only define what it means, but you provided an example as well. Your example was something that I, and I’m sure most of our classmates or people our age could relate to. We’re college students so most of us have cars or at least our driver’s license. I agree with you that your friend’s argument was not a good one. I like how you gave your own reasons as to WHY his argument was weak or invalid. You did what he did not, which was to support your statement based on facts.
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