Talk:Question

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Is there any point in keeping this page? --Woggly 13:11, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Yes, see my justification of the VFD page. When I wrote this it was intended to be unstubbed by people with more background in philosophy than me. There are many more types of questions. I do agree that recent edits with links to List of famous questions have not done the page any good. Jfdwolff 15:10, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Discussion from VfD (consensus to keep)

Dic defn moved here from speedy deletions - this is not a vote. theresa knott 13:48, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

  • Keep. There's lost of philosophy surrounding "questions". I do favour a revert to my original; the link to list of famous questions doesn't do it any good. Jfdwolff 15:01, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Keep. Agree with Jfdwolff. Warofdreams 15:32, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Change my vote to Keep, due to added content.--Woggly 09:18, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete. Seems more like a dictionary definition. Sander123 15:39, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • I do not think a page which may include a good study on to be or not to be, that is the question, ought to be deleted. Keep and let's hope someone will improve it. Pfortuny 15:59, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete - there's nothing there. If anybody decides they want to do a philosophical treatment of questions, they can make a new one. -- Cyrius 20:22, Mar 25, 2004 (UTC)
  • Keep and list on cleanup. Good topic, some good material and some mistakes, already more than a stub. Andrewa 23:18, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)
  • Keep. Grammar good missing tonal indicator? Could cover more topics e.g. learning & teaching with questions, children. -- Zigger 20:42, 2004 Mar 28 (UTC)
  • Keep. An important concept in research, as well as education. I've put in a little about them. --zandperl 04:10, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)

[edit] A few things I'd like to see

  • Information on questions and their grammatical structure in other languages. Surely there are some languages in the world with interestingly different ways of expressing questions. How do you say "what is the meaning of life" in Sanskrit?
  • A treatment of questions' philosophical and scientific aspects. Maybe we could add mentions of the mathematical Millennium Prize problems, questions of social problems, and other enduring questions. Here's a sort of interesting short list of scientific questions, though it seems rather too credulous of what may very well be junk science. A treatment of "To be or not to be," as Pfortuny suggested, would also be very good. I intend to add these sometime.
  • Whatever happened to List of famous questions? I assume it probably got filled up with irrelevant questions and was subsequently deleted. Still, there should be some sort of compilation of enduring questions.
    Mr. Billion 19:56, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Right... I added the word Interrogate to the See also list. Simply because the word 'Question' is listed in the glossary of Roget's 1979 Thesaurus with the subheadings of Doubt, Inquiry, and Interrogate. Contextual example: "I have the questioned/interrogated the suspect about his alleged involvement in the robbery."Drakonicon 18:59, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
  • How about a section on rhetorical questions? --Process 15:20, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
    • Rhetorical questions are semantic, not syntactic. There's nothing inherently special about their structure. --Kjoonlee 19:15, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Famous Questions

The Historical Buddha, Guatama Siddharta, apparently asked 14 unanswerable questions to assist people in attaining enlightenment. I will try and find one from the Buddhist literature and Sanskrit translations. The 4-cornered truth asks four such questions, using philosophical thought to unwind the need for philosophical thought, usually as a philosophical conundrum about the state of reality.Drakonicon 17:58, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

In response to Mr. Billion above, i thought i'd start up the list here. Maybe we should place famous ones here in the talk and place them all under review? Maybe the question needs to be referenced by who said it? Is it answerable? (If not answerable, then deserves to be here in my view). Does have moral, social, integrity, etc... As Mr. Billion pointed out, it could easily get out of hand. Maybe it should be limited to say 5 Questions:: simply to show examples of Good and Famous Questions. Maybe with these subheadings: A Philosophical Question, A Religious Question, A Scientific Question... etc. Pick a category -find a deep and enigmatic question? I'll start it off. I realise that the quotes i have offered need to be sourced far more accurately. I suppose these two quotes operate like Zen koans:

  • "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" - Bishop Berkeley, Philosopher, 17??
  • "If a tree falls in the forest and nobody sees, does it still make a noise?" - Bishop Berkeley, Philosopher, 17??

[edit] Request for request

Why does this article refer to the request article that merely redirects back here? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.20.215.126 (talk • contribs) 10:40, 6 July 2006.

Cleanup needed.

I'm removing the 2 links to request in the lead paragraph. (request redirects to Question...). I'm also changing its category to Grammar, as it's all by itself in category:questions, and appears to have been for some time. Other cleanup is needed, for instance the "Grammar" sections ends by referring to three types of sentences, but then only mentions one of them. Also the first sentence is extremely long, as is the lead section overall. --Quiddity·(talk) 06:19, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] External links

I've removed these external links:

I believe their place isn't this article. MJGR 08:53, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Please find sources . . .

Will some expert who know about such things kindly source the following?

  • The programme broadcast on September 13, 2001, which was devoted to the political implications of the 9/11 attacks that had occurred two days before, featured many contributions from the audience taking the view that such attacks had been made inevitable by the course of United States foreign policy. When opinions were expressed that were critical of America, certain sections of the audience became carried away in agreement, and despite David Dimbleby's efforts, their contribution degenerated from debate into a prolonged and humiliating attack on America and Americans. [citation needed] Although the temporary breakdown of order is not unknown on Question Time, the event struck many as particularly insensitive given the recent nature of tragedy, leading to questions about the wisdom of screening a live edition at such a time. A member of the panel, Philip Lader, the former US ambassador to Britain, was reported in several publications as being "near tears" during the broadcast. The BBC received over 2,000 complaints about the edition and later apologised to viewers for causing offence, stating that the edition should have been recorded and edited. [citation needed]

Sincerely, GeorgeLouis 07:27, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Declarative question

Some English speakers give interrogative intonation to otherwise perfectly affirmative sentences. Can we please include this aspect in the article? I'm not aware of this trait in any other language, but I'd be interested to know.

For example (not a very good one): "Yesterday? I went to the shopping centre? I coulnd't believe it, the sales had started!" 205.228.73.11 15:08, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

There's no question about it. (Hah!) See High rising terminal, also known as uptalk. You might want to read Valspeak and Valley girl as well. --Kjoonlee 18:59, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Indirect questions

"Indirect question" redirects here, but that term is not even mentioned. Perhaps I could ask, indirectly of course, if someone would care to write something about it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.134.47.23 (talk) 01:42, 18 February 2008 (UTC)