Many Questions, The Fallacy of

The tactic of wrapping up a controversial argument in an innocent and uncontroversial one, or a question that is more innocent than the message it brings (aka a “loaded question”). It is a form of begging the question.

Example:

Do you, as a citizen, want a Medical Service that is planned and directed in accordance with the needs of the nation as a whole, or do you think that we had better muddle along with the present system, distorted as it is by the influence of private profit?M7

1943 Labour Party pamphlet outlining the future Government’s plans for the National Health Service

 

Related entries:

Disingenuousness.

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David Fleming
Dr David Fleming (2 January 1940 – 29 November 2010) was a cultural historian and economist, based in London, England. He was among the first to reveal the possibility of peak oil's approach and invented the influential TEQs scheme, designed to address this and climate change. He was also a pioneer of post-growth economics, and a significant figure in the development of the UK Green Party, the Transition Towns movement and the New Economics Foundation, as well as a Chairman of the Soil Association. His wide-ranging independent analysis culminated in two critically acclaimed books, 'Lean Logic' and 'Surviving the Future', published posthumously in 2016. These in turn inspired the 2020 launches of both BAFTA-winning director Peter Armstrong's feature film about Fleming's perspective and legacy - 'The Sequel: What Will Follow Our Troubled Civilisation?' - and Sterling College's unique 'Surviving the Future: Conversations for Our Time' online courses. For more information on all of the above, including Lean Logic, click the little globe below!

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