Is it more intelligent to ask or to answer?

Question

I put this to you (because I am pensive and erm- bored...):

Is it more intelligent to ask the questions or to answer them?

Is it wiser to seek enlightenment or to claim it?

:-)

Please- do give it some... enlightened... thought

In explanation: This was a bit of self-analysis. I discovered this place this week and have been answering. Mainly. I thought it "wise" to do so. But sometimes I see questions where the QUESTION is the intelligent thing on the page and not any of the answers.

So- it occurred to me that it is just wise/intelligent to ASK a question because you are aware it requires answering and are "seeking enlightenment" as it is to answer, thereby claiming to have "the" answer.

:-)

You see where this is going?

I am questioning the legitimacy of my own knowledge, and the motivation which drives me to answer instead of asking.

Teehee- I AM guilty of rethoric I guess... It was a bit "To be or not to be" and not meant to throw folk unduly.

I just appreciate questioning minds more than I appreciate knowing ones. And I would love to be young and honest and seek the answers. And I am. I guess...

I am going to have a problem choosing a best answer (ROFL!) but I will. I appreciated them all and it was three of the first nine (in case there will be more) which stood out:

1. Cordova: To answer is to learn. Totally agree with that! I have learned a lot by seeking to answer someone.

2. DeanPonders: (nice name) To seek the answer from within. Yep, totally agree. You ever been to India? I grew up there... MAGICAL place.

3. vonhiggins: Asking. Heh- "not a lot of people know that"... I am guilty of rhetoric. Did it just now in asking, right? I totally get your point regarding the validity of the system. And it was the -5 for asking which caused me to ask in the first place. I can feel the pull of the + numbers... And those ranks and those %iles... Ick.

Power to the askers! For they seek understanding!

Answer 1

You gain knowledge by asking questions, seeking answers. Intelligence is defined as: the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge.
So, if you have the capacity, you ask, and gain thereby.

Answer 2

Enlightenment is neither asking nor answering. Enlightenment is knowing.

It is learning which must make use of the question and answer.

The question and the answer exist in harmony, as do all thoughts shared amongst the intelligent and sentient beings.

A good question by a student will force the teacher to connect with the Great Mystery of Universe in order to reveal the answer to the student.

A good question by a teacher will require the student to find that connection within his or her self, and thus the answer come from within.

If there is such thing as a good question, I would say yours is an example of one.

Answer 3

It depends on the questions and the answers...but generally the more you know, the more you realize that you don't know. A curiosity & hunger for knowledge is a sign of intelligence. Someone who believes they know everything & isn't eager to learn will never learn or grow but will stagnate and therefore isn't as intelligent. So I suppose you could say that an intelligent person will ask more questions than give answers...but an intelligent person may also want to share their wisdom & provide answers when asked...

I tend to answer much more than I ask in this forum partially because they reward you for answering & penalize you for asking and partially because most of the questions I have are either unanswerable or they are questions I would rather ask close friends and family members than strangers...

Answer 4

Both. To answer your own questions is the root of wisdom.

1. Aristotle believed that contemplation was the highest human good. I'm sure the Dalai Lama and other deep philosophers will agree that the best way to find the truest answers are to ask yourself. Read what others have contemplated and use as fuel for your own pensive moments. Continue asking and answering until you find the truth that cannot be contradicted.

2. Once you've found the truth for certain aspects or conditions of your life you can begin the process of implementation. Change your life in accordance with those truths. Live your life in a manner that makes most sense for better mental and spiritual growth.

(I'm still on step 2.)

Answer 5

To ask...without a doubt as to the legitimacy of the inquiry. However, the external spoken dialogue does not approach the importance of the internal one. I admire rhetoric, but certainly do not give it top position, or consider it authoritative on subject matter. That's why we are plagued with "experts". Yahoo Answers encourages this by a system of reward and penalty. The legitimacy of Yahoo Answers, thus, is to be questioned.

Answer 6

Why this question? Let's be like a flowing river. What ever comes to us, we must learn to accept it.
If life gives us good things, then we need to cherish them, if challenges are there we need to learn from them.
And coming to your particular question, do not you think it follows the same pattern?
If you have the answer to a question, then go ahead and help somebody out, if you have confusion then ask. Is not it that simple? I do not see any complexity there, rather a sign of maturity and honesty is all I can see.

Answer 7

I have gained much knowledge through the process of attempting to answer a question. So neither one is more intelligent. Nothing is better than something else, things are just different.

Answer 8

Blaise Pascal once said that "questions show the scope of one's mind, answers show its sharpness". So, it's all about two different sides of what we generally call intelligence.

Good question, by the way ;)

Answer 9

My college composition professor told me that the questions were often more important than the answers, or rather that it was important to ask the "right" question; that the answer was, of course, relative to what was asked.

Answer 10

Wisdom is the application of knowledge with judgement. It comes most often with age and just prior to foolishness. Which transpires here, I know not.