‘If you’re just interested in answers, you are missing out’: philosopher Lani Watson on the power of asking questions
The author and academic explains how an open, questioning mindset can bring people with opposing views closer together – and even change history
TL;DR
- A questioning mindset fosters exploration, curiosity, and can improve relationships and personal growth.
- Watson categorizes questioning into four stages: proto-questioning, private questioning, social questioning, and spoken questioning.
- Societal norms often discourage questioning due to a desire for cognitive closure and fear of appearing uninformed.
- Neuroscience suggests that asking questions stimulates dopamine and reward circuitry, encouraging exploration.
- Embracing aporia (bafflement or confusion) and confronting unknowns can enrich one's life.
- Questioning techniques like the 'X manoeuvre' and 'Question Y' are designed to encourage deeper engagement and more intimate conversation.
- A questioning disposition can foster unity and hope by encouraging openness to the possibility of being wrong.
- Therapy utilizes questioning to help individuals gain new understanding and push into different emotional spaces.
- The human drive to explore and ask 'what's around the corner?' may have been integral to human migration.