Asking Expresses a Desire to Know

Peter van Elswyk

doi:10.1093/pq/pqad119

Asking Expresses a Desire to Know

Peter van Elswyk^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Philosophy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

A speaker's use of a sentence does more than contribute content to a conversation. It also expresses the speaker's attitude. This essay is about which attitude or attitudes are expressed by using an interrogative sentence to ask a question. With reference to eight lines of data about how questions are circulated in conversation, it is argued that a desire to know the question's answer(s) is expressed.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	254-267
Number of pages	14
Journal	Philosophical Quarterly
Volume	75
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqad119
State	Published - Jan 1 2025

Keywords

desire
desire to know
question-asking
speech acts

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Philosophy

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10.1093/pq/pqad119

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abstract = "A speaker's use of a sentence does more than contribute content to a conversation. It also expresses the speaker's attitude. This essay is about which attitude or attitudes are expressed by using an interrogative sentence to ask a question. With reference to eight lines of data about how questions are circulated in conversation, it is argued that a desire to know the question's answer(s) is expressed.",

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N2 - A speaker's use of a sentence does more than contribute content to a conversation. It also expresses the speaker's attitude. This essay is about which attitude or attitudes are expressed by using an interrogative sentence to ask a question. With reference to eight lines of data about how questions are circulated in conversation, it is argued that a desire to know the question's answer(s) is expressed.

AB - A speaker's use of a sentence does more than contribute content to a conversation. It also expresses the speaker's attitude. This essay is about which attitude or attitudes are expressed by using an interrogative sentence to ask a question. With reference to eight lines of data about how questions are circulated in conversation, it is argued that a desire to know the question's answer(s) is expressed.

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KW - question-asking

KW - speech acts

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Asking Expresses a Desire to Know

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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