Kinds of question – 33
In the first and last of these topics you are given a hint about the
criterion to be examined – qualities of open-mindedness and comic
‘relief’. But when you ask evaluative questions yourself, the most
appropriate criteria must be supplied by you.
Which
‘Which’ is used to do two related things – to identify and to compel
one to decide. Identifying is the counterpart of referring. Whereas
with ‘what’ questions we have a name and we wish to know the
object, identifying involves fitting a name to the object or description
before us:
Which of the attitudes to capital punishment is favoured by
utilitarians?
Simple identification itself involves little more than pointing to the
desired object in a line-up. Interesting ‘which’ questions are raised
when it is not easy to make a decision:
Which of the two common theories that attempt to account
for the origins of cities is the more plausible?
Such a question asks one to compare and contrast the two theories and make a choice between them. Choosing requires one to establish appropriate criteria according to which the final decision is made:
if I have to decide whether today is colder than yesterday, I look to the
thermometer readings, which give me a measure according to the criterion of temperature, and perhaps also to other measurements which
are criteria – such as the wind chill factor and humidity. deciding
is therefore an evaluative activity, too, in which one is explicitly required to compare and contrast the criteria on which the
evaluation is to be made. The criterion to be used in answering the
question above is plausibility. The next problem is to work out how
plausibility can be defined for the purpose of this essay.
Finally, some ‘which’ questions almost cry out for you to
challenge the assumption on which they are based:
In the first and last of these topics you are given a hint about the
criterion to be examined – qualities of open-mindedness and comic
‘relief’. But when you ask evaluative questions yourself, the most
appropriate criteria must be supplied by you.
Which
‘Which’ is used to do two related things – to identify and to compel
one to decide. Identifying is the counterpart of referring. Whereas
with ‘what’ questions we have a name and we wish to know the
object, identifying involves fitting a name to the object or description
before us:
Which of the attitudes to capital punishment is favoured by
utilitarians?
Simple identification itself involves little more than pointing to the
desired object in a line-up. Interesting ‘which’ questions are raised
when it is not easy to make a decision:
Which of the two common theories that attempt to account
for the origins of cities is the more plausible?
Such a question asks one to compare and contrast the two theories and make a choice between them. Choosing requires one to establish appropriate criteria according to which the final decision is made:
if I have to decide whether today is colder than yesterday, I look to the
thermometer readings, which give me a measure according to the criterion of temperature, and perhaps also to other measurements which
are criteria – such as the wind chill factor and humidity. deciding
is therefore an evaluative activity, too, in which one is explicitly required to compare and contrast the criteria on which the
evaluation is to be made. The criterion to be used in answering the
question above is plausibility. The next problem is to work out how
plausibility can be defined for the purpose of this essay.
Finally, some ‘which’ questions almost cry out for you to
challenge the assumption on which they are based: