3.11 Questions Classification of questions Types and rules of the question

The development of scientific and practical knowledge proceeds as a transition from previously established ideas to new, more accurate and richer ideas. This transition is a sequence of the following steps:

a) explicit or implicit statement of the question;

b) the search for new information;

c) forming the answer to the arisen question.

A question is a wish expressed in the form of an interrogative sentence aimed at the development, refinement or addition of existing knowledge. Asking a question usually implies an answer to it, if the question is not, of course, rhetorical.

In the form of a question new problems arise, with the help of questions they receive new information on social, production and daily practice.

To designate a special direction (or section) of logic involved in the analysis of issues, A. and M. Pryoram in the middle of the last century proposed the term “erotic logic”. Sometimes this logic is also called “interrogative”. The “logic of questions” (sometimes referred to as “the logic of questions and answers”) is not an ordinary system of logic, since in this logic there are no rules of inference, the premises or conclusions of which would be questions. The logic of questions is devoted to the semantic clarification of what a question is and what, accordingly, is the answer to it. For more she does not claim. This is the fundamental difference between erotic logic and other systems of logic, which is a system of rules for deriving some positions from others.

Any question is always based on already known knowledge, which acts as its basis and plays the role of the background of the question. The answer is a new judgment, clarifying or supplementing the previous knowledge in accordance with the question posed. Finding an answer involves referring to a specific area of ​​theoretical or empirical knowledge, which is called the answer search area. The knowledge received in the answer, expanding or refining the initial information, can serve as a basis for raising new, deeper questions about the subject of the research.

Classification of questions

Questions differ in their structure and their functions.

The logical structure and cognitive function issues are divided into two main types:

- clarifying, or whether-questions;

- complementary, or something.

Clarifying is the question aimed at identifying the truth of the judgment expressed in it. Pa-example: "Is it true that the moon revolves around the earth?" The grammatical feature of the clarifying questions is the presence of a "whether" particle in the sentence: "Is it true that ..."; "Is ..." and similar expressions.

A question is asked to fill in, aimed at identifying new properties of the phenomena studied: “Who invented the car?” And so-called. The grammatical feature of the completing questions is the presence of question words in the sentence: who? what? Where? when? as? and others, with the help of which they seek to obtain additional information about what the object under study is.

There are also:

1. Right and wrong questions. In contrast to judgment, a question does not contain an affirmation or a denial, therefore it cannot be evaluated in terms of truth and falsehood: ns true or false questions exist. At the same time, the question explicitly or implicitly assumes a certain initial, or basic knowledge, which is a prerequisite of the question. The quality of basic knowledge significantly affects the logical status of the issue, determining the correctness and incorrectness of the question. Correctly posed is a question, the premise of which is true knowledge. Incorrectly posed is a question with a false basis. An example of an incorrectly delivered can be the question: "What size is a rocket sent with a crew to Mars?"

The premise of this question includes the idea that such a rocket already exists.

2. Open and closed questions. Open questions suggest the possibility of an unlimited number of answers. Closed questions are questions that can only be given a limited number of answers. Such questions are most often used during public opinion polls. For example, the question “Should industrial enterprises be built on the Moon?” Is open because a person can express his own opinion on this in detail. The same question can be formulated in a closed form, if we add to it a list of possible answers. For example, “Should industrial enterprises be built on the moon? (I think that yes; I suppose not; I cannot answer). ”

3. Simple and complex questions. Simple is a question that does not include other issues as components. Difficult is the issue, which includes as part of other issues, combined by logical connectives. Depending on the type of bunch, there may be difficult questions;

- connecting (conjunctive);

- Dividing (disjunctive);

- mixed (connecting-separating).

Types and rules of the issue

The question is very close to judgment. This is manifested in the fact that any judgment can be viewed as an answer to a certain question.

Therefore, the question can be characterized as a logical form, as if preceding a judgment, which is a kind of “pretrial”. Thus, the question is a logical form (construction), which aims to get an answer in the form of some judgment.

Questions are divided into research and informational.

Research questions are aimed at obtaining new knowledge. These are questions for which there are no answers. For example, the question: “ How was the Universe born? "- is research.

Information questions are intended to acquire (transfer from one person to another) already existing knowledge (information). For example, the question: “ What is the lead melting point? "- is informational.

Questions are also divided into categorical and propositional.

Categorical ( complementary , special ) questions include the question words “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, “why”, “how”, etc., indicating the direction of the search for answers and, accordingly, the category objects, properties or phenomena in which to look for the right answers.

Propositional (from Lat. Propositio - judgment, sentence) ( clarifying , general ) questions, which are also often called, are aimed at confirming or denying some already existing information. In these questions, the answer seems to have already been laid in the form of a ready-made judgment, which only needs to be confirmed or rejected. For example, the question: “ Who created the periodic system of chemical elements? "- is categorical, and the question:" Is the study of mathematics useful? "- propositional.

It is clear that research and informational issues can be both categorical and propositional. One could say the opposite: both categorical and propositional questions can be both research and informational. For example: “ How to create a universal proof of the Fermat theorem? "- research categorical question:

“ Are there planets in the universe, inhabited, like the Earth, by intelligent beings? "- research propositional question:

“ When did logic appear? "- the informational categorical question:" Is it true that the number π is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter? "- an information propositional question.

Any question has a certain structure, which consists of two parts. The first part is a kind of information (expressed, as a rule, by a judgment), and the second part indicates its insufficiency and the need to supplement it with some kind of answer. The first part is called the main (basic) (it is also sometimes called the premise of the question ), and the second part is the required one . For example, in the information categorical question: “ When was the theory of the electromagnetic field created? "- the main (basic) part is an affirmative judgment:" The electromagnetic field theory was created "- and the sought-for part, represented by the question word" when, "indicates the insufficiency of the information contained in the basic part of the question, and requires its addition, which follows search in the area (category) of temporal phenomena. In a research propositional question: “ Are flights of earthlings to other galaxies possible? ", - the main (basic) part is represented by the proposition:" Earthlings may fly to other galaxies ", - and the sought-for part, expressed by the" whether "particle, indicates the need to confirm or deny this judgment. In this case, the required part of the question does not indicate the absence of any information contained in its basic part, but the lack of knowledge about its truth or falsity and requires that this knowledge be obtained.

The most important logical requirement for the formulation of the question is that its main (basic) part is a true judgment. In this case, the question is considered logically correct. If the main part of the question is a false proposition, then the question should be considered logically incorrect. Such questions do not require an answer and are subject to rejection.

For example, the question: “ When was the first world tour taken? "- is logically correct, since its main part is expressed by a true judgment:" The first world tour took place in the history of mankind . " Question: “ In what year did the famous English scientist Isaac Newton finish his work on the general theory of relativity? "- logically incorrect, because its main part is represented by a false judgment:" The author of the general theory of relativity is the famous English scientist Isaac Newton . "

So, the main (basic part) of the question should be true and should not be false. However, there are logically correct questions, the main parts of which are false judgments. For example, the questions: “Is it possible to create a perpetual motion machine?”, “Is there a reasonable life on Mars?”, “Will they invent a time machine?” - undoubtedly, it should be recognized as logical, despite the fact that their basic parts are false judgments : “ It is possible to create a perpetual motion machine”, “There is a reasonable life on Mars”, “they will invent a time machine” . The fact is that the sought-after parts of these questions are aimed at finding out the truth values ​​of their basic, basic parts, i.e. it is required to find out whether the judgments are true or false: “A perpetual motion engine is possible”, “There is a reasonable life on Mars”, “They will invent time machine . In this case, the questions are logically correct. If the sought-after parts of the questions under consideration were not aimed at ascertaining the truth of their main parts, but would have something different for their purpose, these questions would be logically incorrect, for example: “ Where was the first perpetual motion engine created?”, “When did intelligent life appear on Mars?” ? "," How much will it cost to travel by time machine? " . Thus, the main rule of raising the question should be expanded and clarified: the main (basic) part of the correct question should be a true judgment; if it is a false proposition, then its sought-after part should be aimed at finding out the truth value of the main part; otherwise, the question will be logically incorrect. It is not difficult to guess that the requirement for the main part to be true, mainly relates to categorical questions, and the requirement that the sought part be clarification of the truth of the main part, refers to propositional questions.

It should be noted that the correct categorical and propositional questions are similar to each other in that they can always be given a true answer (as well as a false one, by the way). For example, to the categorical question: “ When did the First World War end? "- You can give as a true answer:" In 1918 ", and false:" In 1916. " To the propositional question: “ Does the Earth rotate around the Sun? "- you can also give as true:" Yes, it rotates ", and false:" No, it does not rotate, "- the answer. Both of the above questions are logically correct. So, the fundamental possibility of obtaining true answers is the main feature of correct questions. If it is fundamentally impossible to get true answers to some questions, then they are incorrect. For example, one cannot get a true answer to the propositional question: “ Will the First World War ever end? "- just as it is impossible to get it to the categorical question:" With what speed does the sun rotate around a stationary earth? ".

Any answers to these questions will have to be considered unsatisfactory, and the questions themselves - logically incorrect, subject to rejection.

Check yourself:

1. What is the question? What is the closeness of the question and judgment?

2. How are research questions different from informational? Give five examples of research and informational questions.

3. What are categorical and propositional questions? Give five examples of categorical and propositional questions.

4. Describe the questions below in terms of their belonging to research or information, as well as categorical or propositional:

1) When was the law of the world revealed?

2) Will the inhabitants of the Earth be able to settle on other planets in the solar system?

3) What year was Bonaparte Napoleon born?

4) What is the future of humanity?

5) Is it possible to prevent a third world war?

5. What is the logical structure of the question? Give an example of a categorical research question and highlight the main (basic) and required parts in it. Do the same with the categorical informational question, the propositional research question, and the propositional informational question.

6. What questions are logically correct and which are incorrect? Give five examples of logically correct and incorrect questions. Can a logically correct question have a false main part? Is it enough to determine the correct question of the requirement of the truth of its main part?

What unites logically correct categorical and propositional questions?

7. Give the answer which of the questions below are logically correct and which are incorrect:

1) How many times does planet Jupiter exceed the size of the Sun?

2) What is the area of ​​the Pacific Ocean?

3) In which year Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky wrote the poem “Cloud in Pants”?

4) How long was the fruitful collaborative scientific work of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein going on?

5) What is the length of the equator of the globe?