In philosophy why question is more important than answer?

Question

This question is quite classic. But still I can't find a satisfactory answer yet. Sorry if it had been around before.

Answer 1

One of the key reasons is that the why question is definitely the means, that is, the ways towards the end or the answer. Therefore, in philosophy as well as any other academic filed of studies, we give more credit to good questions rather than answers since such questions are able to arouse those with more inquisitive mind to find out, to research, to pose more related questions leading to the rational and practical answer.

Answer 2

I don't think there is a good answer.

Gide said, "Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it." I certainly believe that. But that's not to say that there is no truth, or that we are incapable of knowing it.

So I don't think the question is more important than the answer. As a philosophy major I get really sick of people who think that philosophizing is just intellectual masturbation. Philosophy is useless if it does not help us.

Now I'm not considering the fact that what's pretending to be "the answer" might actually be rubbish. Should that be the case, it's good to have the question around so we can rework it. But if we're really talking about the one true answer -- that is priceless. We should hang on to the question only to give its answer a context.

Answer 3

Philosophy is based on culture and language. Both of those foundation stones evolve. Ergo, the answers to questions must evolve - while the questions themselves tend to remain the same. There was no philosophical discussion in ancient Greece about stem cell research, for example. However, the right of man to interfere with the basic elements of other men was under discussion. There are other reasons...

Answer 4

Remember this, every discovery of science came from Philosophers who thought about so philosophically. Philosopher's NEVER wanted any concrete answers to questions. BUT, they would always want to figure out a way to answer their philosophical questions, simply by thinking over it several times. Philosophers ask questions because they were curious about an existence of something, or how something started. Actually, philosophers do not seek for answers but just for philosophy. Without questions, philosophers won't exist. And if philosophers do not exist, science would have not existed...

Answer 5

Because if the question is flawed, or the premise it is based on is false, then no meaningful answer is possible.

For example, a few days ago a woman who apparently considers herself to be a deep thinker posed a question starting 'Knowledge begins with doubt'. She then asked how knowledge could be knowledge if it only lead to uncertainty.

Not much point to even trying to answer because the question starts with a nonsensical assumption. Knowledge is certainty. It can even be the certaintly that something is uncertain but the knowledge itself is certain or it would not be knowledge, it would be assumption or guesswork.

So to obtain a valid answer the question must not contain any invalid assumptions or guesswork.

Answer 6

I do not belong to the category of the learned. My whole life has been based on a fundamental truth which can only be called unlearning. Whatever the society has forced me to learn, through the schools and the colleges and the universities, my work has been how to unlearn it; how to clean myself from all this junk, rubbish and all kinds of crap. I am not a learned man. Perhaps I might be the most unlearned man in the world. And I would hate to be respected by the present humanity - it does not have that intelligence, nor has it that heart, nor has it that being."

Answer 7

I don't think it is. But let's just suppose it is for the moment. Mostly, I think people hear this because no one wants to hear an unsubstantiated theory. And if you don't investigate history, you won't have any basis. So to pre-empt sophistry, the 'questions are more important' (the conservative backward-looking philosophy device) is employed.

Of course the solutions are more important, we're not asking questions for the sake of asking questions-- that's the definition of mental masturbation. No, we want answers, however elusive.

Answer 8

Simple! Because without a question first, how can a proper answer be given? Just like now in that order. But the question is equally as "important" as the answer, since all starts with the question. A proper question asks for a proper answer.

Answer 9

I am a fire investigator. In my philosophy, it is important to be able to prove that you have asked "why" or "what if". Then you work your hypothosis to prove therory. Within that you eliminate any doubt. There you find the answers. When you can eliminate all possibilities and find the truth (cause), or at least make a conclusive argument, then you have the POWER to have a philosophical view. Hope this helps.

Answer 10

there's no much answers in philosophy so the best way to understand something is to question something. Out of those questions, we make a satisfactory rationale and conclusion.