Limits to intentions behind questions
what more can we ask in addition to the seven basic questions of what, why, who, where, when, which, and how. It then dawned on me that "what" suffices to ask all the rest of the questions which are simply shorthand for a longer "what" question.@TheMadFool
I venture into this statement, although the quote supplies a solution. However I would like to explore this idea in more detail.
What more can we ask in addition to the seven basic question of what, why, who, where, when, which and how?
Surely there isn't a limit to the intention behind asking a question?
Comments (20)
Of course, you could formulate questions about that stuff so that they begin with words like "What," but you can also reframe at least some "What" questions as "Why" questions (and vice versa), "Who" questions as "Which" questions (and vice versa), and so on.
A question that could be satisfied with a simple "yes" or "no" answer -- or the declaration of one's affirmation or negation of something. Of course, I anticipate that one would disagree, cause the "what" question could potentially be an end-all question. But could it? Let's try.
Who - The person behind the event
What - The thing or situation which is behind the event
When - The time at which it happened
Where - The place where it happened
Why - The intention behind the event
How - The steps taken for the event to occur
Is this an accurate description?
Yes.
Then, now what's missing here? These are all questions of facts. Could we ask about opinions?
Do/does - Prompts an action or visual response about the event (i.e. Do you think.. or Does it bother...)
Is - prompts an analysis of the present situation (I.e. Is it still.... Is it the...)
Can - Considers an action to further motivate the event (i.e. Can you tell... Can it be...)
Is this what you mean by asking of opinions? Rather I have presented opinion as action. Is this along the same lines of your thinking ?
What???
Yes, you can say that.
Two types of questions: requests for information and teaching questions.
A question has a form such that the required information is set out, usually by presenting an incomplete statement, together with some grammatical marker to mark the utterance as a question.
"What is the time?" includes the incomplete statement "the time is..." together with the grammatical marker "what" and a punctuation mark for good measure.
Teaching questions are used to find out what the student knows - "What is five plus seven?". The grammatical structure is much the same as an attempt to elicit information, but the intent is quite different.
That's the two intentions behind most questions.
There are also rhetorical questions, which are statements in the form of questions, and so not actually questions.
And the game of creative uses - "Can you smell bacon?" issued near a police officer; "What use are you?" spoken to someone who has not bee helpful shows how language allows for innumerable variation.
Edit: this analysis from Austin and Searle.
7. Which - This rather than that or those
8. Whence - The place or source from which it came
"Is it raining?" contains no wh... word. Questions without wh... words are not uncommon. Don't you agree? Might it have been otherwise? Do you think perhaps the analysis of all questions into "what..." is a bit inadequate?
No.
Leaves the event itself untouched.
Open - requests for information cued by Who, What, Why, When, Where, Which, Whence or How ...
Leading - requests for specifically assumed information e.g. "Where in your house did you hide the bloody knife?"
Closed - requests for Yes/No e.g. "Is this ...?" "Will you ...?" "May I ...?"
Test - requests for information which demonstrate subject-matter knowledge or skill; or requests for information which dis/confirm expectations or predictions
Follow-up - requests for information with respect to presuppositions implications corroboration relevance or other aspects of given answers
Meta - follow-up questioning of (first-order) given questions
Rhetorical - interrogative-in-appearance-only utterances made for (dramatic/comic) effect or for making argumentative points rather than requests for information
Pseudo - requests for information that are incoherent due to their lack of specific, satisfiable conditions and/or lack of well-defined search parameters & terms, thereby rendering any answer undecideable at best e.g. "What is the meaning of life?" "What happens to me when I die?" "Does God exist?" "Why is there something rather than nothing?"
:up:
Unless there's an answer you're concerned can't be elicited using the interrogative pronouns provided, there's no issue to address, is there? (Tag question :) ) Though I'm all for grammar fun...
Pertinent, though by no means unique, to philosophizing.
- @creativesoul
But you see we have found everything out about the event?
What more could you ask?
Which event?
:brow:
I suppose the questions are fine after we agree upon what happened.
What more could I ask?
Those answers do not - cannot - exhaust the following question:
What happened?