This content is locked. Please login or become a member.
Rhetorical Questions
A rhetorical question is a question which you’re not supposed to answer. It’s supposed to simply signal that whatever the question is about, the answer is so obvious we don’t need to talk about that anymore. It’s a way of brushing aside criticisms. And a good rule of thumb, doesn’t always work, but works more often than you’d imagine, when somebody asks a rhetorical question, answer it. I remember from years ago, actually, I think I was an undergraduate at the time, Peanuts cartoon. Charlie Brown says, “Who’s to say what’s right or wrong? Who’s to say what the answer is here?” And Lucy says, “I will.” Bingo. She’s going to answer that rhetorical question. She’s not going to just walk away and not deal with the issue. If you get in the habit of trying to answer rhetorical questions, you will often bring people up short in interesting ways and surprise both yourself and them with your answers.
Philosophical Inquiry
Philosophers often work by themselves. They work alone, sit quietly in their study and cogitate and work on it. And it works. Some of the greatest philosophy has been written in solitary isolation. But I think that’s rare, and I think it always helps to have an audience, a participating audience with whom you discuss these things. And of course, this is what Socrates said and he was right about that. He was wrong about a lot of things I think, but he was right. But talking it over, asking each other questions is a great way of making progress which is kind of surprising in a way because if you don’t know what the answer is, if none of you know what the answer is, what good is it going to be asking each other questions? But sometimes you sort of know the answers, you just have to dig them out and that takes hard work.