What it is
Asking a question that smuggles in an unproven assumption, so any direct answer concedes it.
In the wild
Have you stopped missing deadlines?
How to answer it
Refuse the frame first, then answer the fair version of the question.
Distraction and distortion
Loaded question
Also called Complex question, plurium interrogationum
In depth
Origin and naming
The trap is ancient — Diogenes Laërtius records the philosopher Menedemus being asked whether he had stopped beating his father. Medieval logicians catalogued it as 'plurium interrogationum', the fallacy of many questions packed into one.
More places it shows up
A TV host asks a minister: 'When will the government admit it lied about the budget?' — any date offered concedes the lying.
A hiring manager asks a candidate: 'Why did your last team push you out?' — the answer must first survive the premise.
A parent asks a teenager: 'Who were you really texting at 2 a.m.?' — guilty of secrecy whatever the reply.
A commenter demands a scientist explain 'why the data was manipulated' before the manipulation itself has been shown.
How to spot it
- Notice when both 'yes' and 'no' land you in the same place.
- Notice when the accusation sits inside the grammar of the question, not in any evidence shown.
- Notice when splitting the question in two — 'did it happen?' then 'why?' — is treated as dodging.