Are there any questions?

The philosophy behind asking questions is an interesting one.  On the surface, it seems to serve as a probing mechanism to acquire desired knowledge on a certain subject matter - I don't know the answer to something; I want to know the answer; therefore I ask a question.  Seems simple enough, right?

However, if one were to evaluate the true nature of question-asking, it isn't so much a reflection of what one doesn't know; but more of an indication of what one does know.  How so?  Perhaps it is best to illustrate this point using mathematical concepts.  It shouldn't be any secret that math is one of the few subjects in all of academia in which its concepts build upon each other.  For example, in order for one to grasp multiplication, one must understand addition since multiplication is essentially adding any given number to itself multiple times.  What makes math so unique from other subjects is that most other subjects simply require literacy as the only prerequisite to grasp its content, while math has very specific prerequisites to move up the knowledge ladder.

When it comes to question asking, any question one asks is a reflection of what he/she already knows.  It is nearly impossible to ask a question which doesn't contain some components of "tribal knowledge" from which the question itself is generated.  For example, if I were to ask the question, "Where is the best place to get my car's oil changed?" the assumption is I know several facts regarding oil: my car has it, my car's performance is directly related to it, and that it needs to be replenished periodically for my car to perform adequately.  Yet it would be impossible to ask this question had I not known these facts.  It is clear that this question is not an ignorant one since it is a question built from particular knowledge.  Therefore reasonable questions, as opposed to ignorant ones, must come from a good knowledge base.

So why am I blogging about this mundane topic at 2:11am on a Friday morning (other than my inability to sleep)?  Because I believe that much of today's misunderstanding - whether it be in social or business contexts - can be attributed to much of the general population's inability to ask good knowledge-based questions.  Have you ever found yourself lost in a subject matter but didn't ask questions about it?  I believe this is precisely the reason.  The issue is not that there aren't any questions, but that there are so many that one doesn't know where to begin asking or what to ask.

Have you ever done this when someone asked,
"Are there any questions?"

One of the questions that always bothered me as a student is the question, "Are there any questions?"  because it begs the question (see what I did there?).  Perhaps the real question is, "Do you understand?"  The latter question, to me, invites the student to confess any unresolved misunderstanding without shame.  In contrast, the former question assumes that a good knowledge base has already been formed to respond with a good question, which can provoke timidity in asking a question when a good knowledge base is actually absent.

Anyway, this is just a random thought - I just wanted to type what was on my mind until I got sleepy (and I'm getting sleepy right now).  Have you ever been at a loss for words to ask a good question because you simply didn't know what to ask?  Leave a comment!