Curiosity and stupid questions

in #philosophy3 years ago

I was thinking that actually the ability to delve deeper into a subject and to know beyond appearances is determined by our ability to ask questions. We have to ask those questions, but not just any questions, but the right questions, because the quality of the questions determines the quality of the answers. It's like they say, there are no unanswerable questions, only poorly formulated ones. But what defines a good question? I believe that what makes a good question is that it is asked out of curiosity. If you have a question, and you really want to know the answer, then that's a good question. That is the only determining factor, the desire to know, because it is that same curiosity that always leads us to ask the proper questions to obtain the right knowledge. I believe, in fact, that curiosity is the mother of discovery, of knowledge of all that is hidden and not accessible to the naked eye.

Although, of course, there is excessive curiosity, especially that which is directed at things that are none of our business, which is negative, we should be aware of that, but I think all those questions asked with a healthy amount of curiosity, I think those are the best questions. Particularly, I think the best questions are those that have the adjective "stupid". I have found that these types of questions have a lot of potential. These are questions that are so basic that they seem silly because one should actually know the answer. But one needs to ask them, or find for oneself the answer, to finally be able to obtain that knowledge. Otherwise, one is doomed to ignorance. It is always best to start by asking the most basic questions and then develop a deeper understanding.

Although I also know that not all stupid questions are in fact stupid, there are many that only appear to be stupid, but are in fact very accurate questions that no one has answers to yet. Those of which, before doing them, you think they are very stupid, very obvious, that surely they already have an answer, that the experts who work on it every day must have answered long ago, and that therefore, they are invalid. Wrong, there are no genuine questions that are invalid. Then you ask that question and realize that no one has an answer, so it turns from a stupid question to a very deep and meaningful question.

I think these are the kind of questions we should ask, we should question everything, but not just question for the sake of questioning, that skepticism will get us nowhere, but question because we really have a doubt, because we have a question, no matter how ridiculous, about it. This is very difficult when we have become accustomed to keeping our doubts quiet so as not to appear foolish, but we will truly be so if we don't ask these questions, if we don't seek a satisfactory answer that will help us understand what we are talking about and not just superficially know the subject.

You have no idea how many theories, and how many seemingly solid claims have fallen after someone asked a seemingly stupid question.


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As so often, there is nothing to add. You put your thoughts well to the point - I really would like to discuss but you leave me with no disagreements. LOL. So I have to take my spare time and use it somewhere else. Cheers, as always :)

Yeah, that happens to me too. That's why sometimes I am silent.

Thanks for letting me know.

Cheers to you.

I agree, many theories fall down and many lies are discovered by asking stupid questions.