A formal argument will include a conclusion.
Sure, but most arguments -- including in particular many of the sort this discussion was originally about -- are not formalized. Specifically, theistic or supernaturalist arguments based on consciousness, morality and free will generally leave most of their premises unstated and most of their steps implicit. Accordingly, the appropriate notion of question-begging needs to be generalized slightly. I suppose you might prefer to use some other term for the logical flaw I'm complaining about: what's being assumed is not necessarily exactly what they set out to prove, but some other thing that stands in about as much need of proof, and for much the same reasons, as what they're purporting to prove.
Simply positing things is better than not explaining them at all
See, here's where we disagree. I think simply positing things is worse than just leaving them unexplained, unless either (1) there's some actual reason to think they need simply positing, or (2) they're posited in a way that actually leads to useful predictions (and those predictions don't get refuted).
In epistemology, positing that there's an external world with which our experience is somewhat correlated is useful because of #1; if you don't make such an assumption then you simply can't get started.
In physics, positing electrons (or the quantum field from which they arise, or whatever) is useful because of #2; what you're positing has precisely defined behaviour which lets you deduce all kinds of true things.
But how does positing consciousness as fundamental help you in either respect? And, if it doesn't, how does it help at all? It seems to me that it just serves to discourage you for looking for better explanations.
But it is not invariably invalid
Well, there's an interesting rhetorical move. I say "X is a pretty weak move, and Y is invalid". You quote only the first half and say "But it's not invariably invalid". Bah.
A novel ontological posit can be part of a good explanation.
Of course. Perhaps it wasn't clear what I was asking. You said "Those would be the factors that ..." but I can't tell what things you were referring to; you said "a good explanation" but I can't tell what good explanation. (And I'm not sure whether when you said "make" you actually meant "hypothetically might make" or "actually do make". The latter seems like the obvious meaning but then surely you owe us some more information about this alleged good explanation.)
Well, there's an interesting rhetorical move. I say "X is a pretty weak move, and Y is invalid". You quote only the first half and say "But it's not invariably invalid". Bah.
I don't see the problem. I was trying to emphasise that question begging is not the right diagnosis of the problem.
I suppose you might prefer to use some other term for the logical flaw I'm complaining about:
Yep. As above.
...But how does positing consciousness as fundamental help you in either respect? And, if it doesn't, how does it help at all? It seems to
Background
I was raised in the Churches of Christ and my family is all very serious about Christianity. About 3 years ago, I started to ask some hard questions, and the answers from other Christians were very unsatisfying. I used to believe that the Bible was, you know, inspired by a loving God, but its endorsement of genocide, the abuse of slaves, and the mistreatment of women and children really started to bother me.
I set out to study these issues as much as I could. I stayed up past midnight for weeks reading what Christians have to say, and this process triggered a real crisis of faith. What started out as a search for answers on Biblical genocide led me to places like commonsenseatheism.com. I learned that the Bible has serious credibility problems on lots of issues that no one ever told me about. Wow.
My Question
Now I'm pretty sure that the God of the Bible is man-made and Jesus of Nazareth was probably a failed prophet, but I don't have good reasons to reject the supernatural all together. I'm working through the sequences, but this process is slow. I will probably struggle with this question for months, maybe longer.
Excluding the Supernatural was interesting, but it left me wanting a more thorough explanation. Where do you think I should go from here? Should I just continue reading the sequences, and re-read them until the ideas gel? I'm coming from 30 years of Sunday School level thinking. It's not like I grew up with words like "epistemology" and "epiphenomenalism". If there is no supernatural, and I can be confident about that, I will need to re-evaluate a lot of things. My worldview is up for grabs.