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Many Questions Fallacy: Difference between revisions
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* Complex Question
* Loaded Question
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* Demanding a Simple Answer to a Complex Question
The interrogative version of [[Begging the Question]], the [[wikipedia:Many questions|Many Questions Fallacy]] occurs where a question is asked that assumes the answer to one or more additional questions, and a demand is made that it be answered without qualifiers. The classic example is "have you stopped beating your wife? Answer Yes or No!"
{{examples|art=the}}
* Many [[Logic Bomb
** Sadly, that "[[Logic Bomb]]" can be answered easily; no. You don't always lie, but you do sometimes lie.
* In legal matters, these are considered a type of "[http://www.trialtheater.com/articles/leadingquestions.htm leading questions]", where the intent is to persuade someone being questioned towards a certain line of replies. For example, "You saw the defendant with a knife in his hand, right?" is a loaded version of "Was the defendant carrying anything?". Leading questions are for the most part severely discouraged and have led to the collapse of cases where it became clear that witnesses had, for various reasons, allowed themselves to be led into giving completely false testimony.
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* Used in the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "Screwed the Pooch"
{{quote|'''Lawyer''': What phrase best describes Brian? (the family dog): "problem drinker" or "African-American haberdasher"?
'''Peter''': Well I guess [[False Dichotomy|of the two]], "problem drinker", but I don't see...
'''Lawyer''': How about this- "sexual deviant" or "magic picture that if you stare at long enough, you will see something."
== [[Literature]] ==
* Plato depicts Socrates doing this ''all the time,'' along with [[Begging the Question]], [[Appeal to Nature]], and the [[Four Terms Fallacy]]. And a ''lot'' of the [[Converse Error]]. It was an important element in his razor reasoning with which he beat opponents like Gorgias into submission, and was not at the time considered illegitimate, since formal logic was in its infancy.
==== Looks like this fallacy but is not
* When the question includes an assumption which is regarded as uncontroversial. For example, "Where were you last night, sir?" assumes the person being questioned to be male, but is not fallacious unless the person's gender is actually in question. It also assumes that there was, in fact, a last night, and that the person being questioned existed at that time and was in some location, but these are also not generally questionable assumptions.
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