Confirmation of a conjecture of Peter of Spain concerning question- begging arguments (Q792992)

Peter of Spain remarked in the thirteenth century [Summulae Logicales vii 54 (Roma, 1947)] that the fallacy of begging the question does not prevent an inferring syllogism, but only a probative syllogism. Unfortunately he did not elaborate on the distinction between inferring and probative arguments. In this paper, his suggestion is developed to show that the traditional, intuitive concept of begging the question, when analysed formally, does provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for the probative failure of an inferentially valid argument.