Blackwell Reference Online

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L ogic Also called the fallacy of the complex question. A asks B a question and demands a simple yes or no answer. But the question implies some unwarranted presupposition that needs to be answered separately. A simple yes or no answer will make B concede the unwarranted presupposition. For example, “Have you stopped beating your father?” No matter whether B answers yes or no, he concedes that he has beaten his father at some time, but that might not be true at all. “There remains lastly the fallacy of many questions. This consists in putting questions in such a form that any single answer involves more than one admission.” Joseph, An Introduction to Logic ... log in or subscribe to read full text