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Our ability to think, argue and reason is determined by our ability to question. Questions are a vital component of critical thinking, yet we underestimate the role they play.
Using Questions to Think puts questioning back in the spotlight.
Naming the parts of questions at the same time as we name parts of thought, this one-of-a-kind introduction allows us to see how questions relate to the definitions of propositions, premises, conclusions, and the validity of arguments. Why is this important? Making the role of questions visible in thinking reasoning and dialogue, allows us to:
- Ask better questions
- Improve our capability to understand an argument
- Exercise vigilance in the act of questioning
- Make explicit what you already know implicitly
- Engage with ideas that contradict our own
- See ideas in broader context
Breathing new life into our current approach to critical thinking, this practical, much-needed textbook moves us away from the traditional focus on formal argument and fallacy identification, combines the Kantian critique of reason with Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutics and reminds us why thinking can only be understood as an answer to a question.
List of contents
Preface
Introduction: An Age of Answers
Part I: Make Questions Explicit for Thinking1. Thinking Only Happens in Complete Thoughts
2. What Do Questions Do to Complete Thoughts?
3. A Logic of Question-and-Answer
Part II: Make Questions Explicit for Reasoning4. Reasoning Only Happens in Explicit Arguments
5. What Do Questions Do to Arguments?
6. A Rationality of Questioning-and-Reasoning
Part III: Make Questions Explicit in Dialogue7. Dialogue Only Happens in Constructive Reconciliations
8. What Do Questions Do to Dialogues?
9. A Dialectic of Questionability-and-Responsibility
Conclusion: The End(s) of Questions
Appendix for Instructors
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Nathan Eric Dickman (PhD, The University of Iowa) is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of the Ozarks, USA. He researches in hermeneutic phenomenology, philosophy of language, and comparative questions in philosophies of religions, with particular concerns about global social justice issues in ethics and religions. He has taught a breadth of courses, from Critical Thinking to Zen, and Existentialism to Greek & Arabic philosophy. Using Questions to Think (Bloomsbury, 2021) examines the roles questions play in critical thinking and reasoning, and Philosophical Hermeneutics and the Priority of Questions in Religions (Bloomsbury, 2022) examines the roles questions play in religious discourse.
Summary
Our ability to think, argue and reason is determined by our ability to question. Questions are a vital component of critical thinking, yet we underestimate the role they play. Using Questions to Think puts questioning back in the spotlight.
Naming the parts of questions at the same time as we name parts of thought, this one-of-a-kind introduction allows us to see how questions relate to the definitions of propositions, premises, conclusions, and the validity of arguments. Why is this important? Making the role of questions visible in thinking reasoning and dialogue, allows us to:
- Ask better questions
- Improve our capability to understand an argument
- Exercise vigilance in the act of questioning
- Make explicit what you already know implicitly
- Engage with ideas that contradict our own
- See ideas in broader context
Breathing new life into our current approach to critical thinking, this practical, much-needed textbook moves us away from the traditional focus on formal argument and fallacy identification, combines the Kantian critique of reason with Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutics and reminds us why thinking can only be understood as an answer to a question.
Foreword
Discover the fundamental role questioning plays in reasoning and improve your ability to think critically.
Additional text
Drawing on phenomenology, hermeneutics, and the philosophy of language, this text explores both the technical and existential dimensions of reasoning. Through challenging yet inviting prose, Dickman offers a welcome and innovative approach to critical thinking that brings students along on an authentic philosophical journey into the nature of questioning.
