Begging the question?

[kvaadk]

What is the name of the logical fallacy that conflates fact with opinion to support a foregone conclusion? I want to say begging the question, but begging the question, I think, would be something like "There will always be more because that's what more means

Comments

[zianuray]

I got kicked out of a Sunday School class in 5th grade for suggesting that "if conditions were different, wouldn't any life there was fit that?".

I don't consider myself well-enough informed on the subject to claim to know which way it happened, and my "beliefs" may be a bit flexible. What I do know is that I don't know, and I'm not really sure it matters which way, just that people should *think* about it and look over what evidence there may be before adopting a position. And not insist that anyone who disagrees with them is wrong.

[kvaadk]

Agreed.

I've pretty well distilled my own beliefs, to the point that within myself I do not compromise, and a fundamental precept is that I have no right to impose my beliefs on others against their will.

And yes, as can be demonstrated a million times over on our own little dust mote: life is the product of its environment, not the cause.