COMPLEX QUESTION

pluriuminterrogationum
(also known as: many questions fallacy, fallacy of presupposition, loaded question, trick question,
false question)

 It is a question that has a presupposition that is complex. The presupposition is a proposition that is
presumed to be acceptable to the respondent when the question is asked. The respondent becomes
committed to this proposition when he gives any direct answer. The presupposition is called
"complex" because it is a conjunctive proposition, a disjunctive proposition, or
a conditional proposition. It could also be another type of proposition that contains some logical
connective in a way that makes it have several parts that are component propositions.
 Complex questions can but do not have to be fallacious, as in being an informal fallacy.

 A question that has a presupposition built in, which implies something but protects the one asking
the question from accusations of false claims. It is a form of misleading discourse, and it is a fallacy
when the audience does not detect the assumed information implicit in the question, and accepts it
as a fact.

 Two otherwise unrelated points are conjined and treated as a single proposition. The reader is
expected to accept or reject both together, when in reality one is acceptable while the other is not. A
complex question is an illegitimate use of the “and” operator.

Example #1:

How many times per day do you beat your wife?

Explanation: Even if the response is an emphatic, “none!”, the damage has been done. If you are hearing
this question, you are more likely to accept the possibility that the person who was asked this question is a
wife-beater, which is fallacious reasoning on your part.

Example #2:

How many school shootings should we tolerate before we change the gun laws?

Explanation: The presupposition is that changing the gun laws will decrease the number of school
shootings. This may be the case, but it is a claim that is implied in the statement and hidden by a more
complex question. Reactively, when one hears a question such as this, one's mind will attempt to search for
an answer to the question—which is actually a distraction from rejecting the implicit claim being made. It is
quite brilliant, but still fallacious.

Exception: It is not a fallacy if the implied information in the question is known to be an accepted fact.

How long can one survive without water?

Here, it is presumed that we need water to survive, which very few would deny that fact.
The Unjustified Presumption
"Pluriuminterrogationum, which translates as 'of many questions,' is otherwise known as the fallacy of the
complex question. When several questions are combined into one, in such a way that a yes-or-no answer is
required, the person they are asked of has no chance to give separate replies to each, and the fallacy of the
complex question is committed. . . .

- Did the pollution you caused increase or decrease your profits?

- Did your misleading claims result in you getting promoted?
- Is your stupidity inborn?
All of them contain an assumption that the concealed question has already been answered affirmatively. It is
this unjustified presumption which constitutes the fallacy.

"The complex question has to be broken into simpler ones; and often the denial of the fact presumed
invalidates the larger question altogether."

Trick Questions
"The fallacy of complex question is the interrogative form of the fallacy of begging the question. Like the
latter, it begs the question by assuming the conclusion at issue. . . .

"Before rushing to answer a complex question, it is best to question the question:

a) Have you stopped beating your wife?
b) Did John ever give up his bad habits?
c) Are you still a heavy drinker?
In each of these questions there lies an assumed answer to a previous question. Did John have bad habits? is
the unasked question whose answer is assumed in question b. We need to withhold any answer to
question b until this prior question has been resolved. In some instances of this fallacy, considerable struggle
may be necessary in order to liberate ourselves from the misleading influence of a complex question.

An Implicit Argument
"Although not an argument as such, a complex question involves an implicit argument. This argument is
usually intended to trap the respondent into acknowledging something that he or she might otherwise not
want to acknowledge.
Examples:
Have you stopped cheating on exams?
Where did you hide the marijuana you were smoking?
Obviously, each of the questions is really two questions."

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_question
https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/69/Complex-Question-Fallacy
http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/complqueterm.htm

Prepared by:
Rich Tugas
Jella Capadocia