How come so many participants here in the philosophy category answer Q's w/o Asking any Q's?

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Sometimes I find that it is more difficult to know what you don't-know than it is to know what you know.

If you know something, the only point to asking a question about it is perhaps to Socratically educate someone else. And often even then it is simply a means of underscoring for the recipient of the question what, exactly, it is that they don't-know.

Once you are aware that you don't-know something there are, of course, many different ways of finding it out. Asking a question here is one way, but it is certainly not the only one. There are those who would argue that it is even one of the less profitable ones, depending on the nature of the knowledge you are trying to seek. Sometimes I find that obtaining an answer is just as much a matter of thinking for myself about what I believe and how I would defend it to someone else as opposed to external research.

And that is why I, at least, answer much more than I ask. I am often looking through many questions, hoping to find one that I not only don't-know the answer to, but which I am interested in finding out.

This puts me to some degree in the same boat as the asker. And since I am pretty good at finding out things by a variety of means, I do so and then I return and tell them what I have learned. We both profit from the experience... at least, I like to think that we do. Hard to beat that, if you ask me!

EDIT:

Upon reflection, I can only agree with your comment, Heeltap. That first paragraph din't say what I wanted it to at all.

What I meant to observe was that it can be easier to obtain knowledge that you don't have than it can be to obtain the knowledge that you don't have it. Once you are aware that something exists in the category of things you don't-know, it can then be pretty straightforward to find out.

And perhaps that goes without saying. There are, after all, so many things we know today that our forebearers didn't simply because it never occurred to them to ask. There weren't a whole lot of scientific experiments conducted in the Rennaissance that were beyond the technical capacities of the ancient Greeks. But to Hero, the steam engine was just a toy, not the basis of large-scale locomotion....Show more

I cannot speak for everyone, but only for myself. I do ask questions as well as answer questions.
By reading others questions it does cause me to think about some things that may have not crossed my mind before. I am not "all-knowing" and cannot think of every thought and reading some others questions does spark my thought processes. I do ask questions, but also some of the questions that I was going to ask I found were already asked before and I do not wish to be repetitive. Example is how many times have I read the question "Is there a God" or "Will the world end.....” Also when I ask a question (in philosophy) I do not wish to do it just for the sake of "asking", I wish the question to have depth, substance and be thought-provoking. I can pop out numerous questions in some of the other sections, but I tend to look at the philosophy section a little differently. I have 3 questions in my head right now that I will post soon, but before I do, I just wish to sit and ponder on my thoughts before I ask others theirs. Either way though, asking or answers questions I still learn with both methods and enjoy the process.

Added: I read about the points and answering questions. Really I don't even look at my points or base my asking/ answering upon points. To me the points are just there for an incentitive for motivation for "some" people. I don't even look at how many points another person has. To me it is the substance of their question and/or answer that holds the most value....Show more

I think that those that do more asking then answering (myself included) fit into two categories (mostly).

1- They believe that they are better equiped to answer questions then most others on this board. When asking a question they find that the only person able to answer it is themself... which is of course fruitless. Would you think that in a room full of normal people Einstein would be answering questions or asking them... and at what frequency. (obviously this is an exagheration of my point.... but it still shows the basic concept I am trying to explain).

2- They come here out of boredom and the desire for a mental challenge. Asking a question does not require much thought... while answering one does. You must make a rational argument for your case when answering, yet questioning only requires a single sentence. It is much less challenging to ask "What makes a human human?" then to answer that question. This is especially true of philosophical questions which often have diverse and contrary answers.

I sort of fall into both categories. But mainly I just find asking questions here a waste of time. Rarely does anyone answer with any real insight or meaning. Half the responses are two word nonsensical half phrases written most likely be a child. To sort through that dreck seems like a worthless pursuit. Answering questions is also a waste of time, but it gets my brain working forcing me to create a theory and logically explain it over the course of a few minutes.... keeps me sharp (I hope) for future debates or conversations. Plus I ask a ton of questions to the people I know, whose opinion I actually value (no offense to anyone intended)....Show more

I can only answer for myself here but this may be generalized.

I think, at least in the context offered on Yahoo, you can see philosophy in two different lights; either it is something for everyone (the general, what is... questions that fill most of the pages here) or it is a much more academic idea (what did Plato mean, what is qualia, help me with this logic homework, etc.).

I pick the academic route. This isn't right for everyone but it's right for me. As such, I think I have a lot to offer those who are trying to learn and very little to gain from asking my own questions.

This is mainly because the sort of questions I would ask would require a certain amount of study that I don't think I'm going to find on Yahoo (Can we have a strict reduction of economic laws to physical laws in such a way that generalizations about economics still hold true even though they apply to groups of individuals that seem to be categorized based on human notions?). I might, but I sort of doubt it.

So I just answer questions where I can to try and help other people figure things out for themselves. I'm not going to yell at people for asking questions but I'm not going to answer them or ask similar questions myself.

Like I said, I can't speak for everyone here, this is just me.

EDIT: Since I don't think anyone else has mentioned academics I assume the comment about amusement was for me. I think you misunderstood my tone. My point is that I have made a personal choice about how I view philosophy. I'm not going to shove it on anyone but I don't get anything out of asking questions.

I do think I can help people with questions though, which is why I answer. Philosophy is not just amusement for academics, you're right. It is something that can be done by anyone who wants to learn something.

What I'm interested in is simply very (to most other people) boring or esoteric. I assume, for better or worse, that no one here would go through the trouble to learn all the bits required to answer the kinds of questions I have.

Long and short; questions are great, they make the who thing (Yahoo and philosophy work) but this medium of question asking isn't for me....Show more

Good question.
I think philosophy is more about thinking than asking.
*edit*

I think you think you know what philosophy is and you're upset that others don't conform to that. I suspect you think philosophy is a constant of asking questions no matter how mundane and irrelevent. You said since it's philosophy I should explain my question further but your question isn't philosophical at all. It's simply asking why more people don't participate in asking in the philosophy section.

Well, first of all, that can be for a number of reasons. This isn't exclusive to just the philosophy section but to all of Yahoo answers. If every answer-er on here asked a question it would be flooded.

The point of my previous answer though, is that some people don't find it necessary to ask a bunch of questions to be inspired by the ones being asked.

To suggest that people can not think unless they are in a consistent state of asking is foolish and from the plethora of un-philosophical questions asked in the philosophy section, the better question is why people don't ask the right questions around here....Show more