A colleague in another court frequently said “The first question is: ‘what is the question?’.” He was clearly talking about pending court cases where correctly identifying the key legal point to be addressed and decided is essential to the effective administration of justice. But in a broader sense, questions are important in all aspects of life, not just the legal. Let’s look at how questions affect our thinking.
One question that pops up early in life is “Why?” It can be frustrating for a busy parent to be peppered by a preschooler’s persistent and repetitive “Why mommy?” inquiries, but that is how we all learned. “Why is the sky blue?” might be easier to answer than “Why did my goldfish die?”, but as caring parents we try our best. My parents always stressed that the only dumb question is the one you don’t ask, because then you don’t learn.
As we get older, we might, even if not in training for it, learn of the journalist’s mantra of Five W’s and an H—the time honored Who, What, Where, When, Why (there it is again, that ubiquitous why question), and How. Using that system, we might all write better reports, make better presentations, or analyze problems and create solutions.
Another excellent question with wide application is “Compared to what?” Winston Churchill famously said “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest.” By comparing the Anglo-American system of majority rule under law to tyranny, communism, anarchy, and other ways of organizing society, he effectively made the point that by comparison democracy, despite its flaws, is the superior system. Proper comparisons, whether in the newest high-tech purchase or career choices, are essential to good decision making.
A question that frequently inspires outside-the-box thinking is “What if …?” A good hypothetical or a serious look at alternative solutions can be an effective way to get family, co-workers, friends, and even political opponents to see things through a different perspective. My Corporations law professor always said “The first question a good attorney asks is ‘what’s the downside risk?’”, which is the pessimistic but important version of “What if… ?”.
All attorneys and many others will know of Socratic questions, designed to probe and cause deeper thinking on the topic at hand. Leading questions, the staple of cross-examination, suggest an answer. A hypothetic question in court has to be backed up with admissible evidence, but a hypothetical question to a party in mediation might explore possible solutions not yet considered. The despicable and legally objectionable compound question (sometimes called a loaded question) presumes one fact not stated as a foundation for the question said aloud, as in “Senator, have you stopped clubbing baby rabbits?” And how can we forget rhetorical questions?—which is itself a rhetorical question.
Of course, trial attorneys may know (or should know) of the famous courtroom tale ascribed to Clarence Darrow—the peril of one too many questions. In a trial for mayhem, the crime of intentionally disfiguring a person, which arose in a barroom brawl, the following sequence supposedly occurred:
Defense Attorney: “Did you see the defendant bite the victim’s ear off?”
Eye witness for the prosecution: “No sir, I did not.”
Defense attorney: “What did you see?”
Eye witness for the prosecution: “I saw him spit it out.”
(Trial procedure 101: Don’t ask a question on cross that you don’t know the answer to.)
It might be worth noting that the very word “question” contains the smaller but no less important word “quest.” A quick dictionary search shows that the derivation of both words “question” and “quest” share a linguistic root with a Latin word meaning “to seek.” Isn’t it true that we use questions to seek information? [Objection, leading!]
Can you think of and share other widely useful questions that help everyone think and reason better? (Wait, that’s also a question. Am I asking too many questions? Oh darn, that’s also a question. What am I going to do? I think I’ll stop with the questions. Should I? I guess I have to stop the questions somewhere, right?)