What is in a question?

To be or not to be? is a famous question, but at the same time belongs to a category that is neglected in current philosophy of language and linguistics: practical questions, that is, questions that are not answered through statements or assertions, but through directions like Be!. The project will develop a new account of questions in general and practical questions in particular, which will also include a new theory of force indicators the signs that mark a speech act as, for example, a question, an assertion, a direction, or a promise. This theory will integrate force indicators into the theory of meaning and will thus overcome the traditional opposition between force and meaning or content by ascribing content representing the subjects position towards the world to them. Asserting presents the position of theoretical knowledge, directing that of practical knowledge. Somebody asserting that the door is closed presents themself as knowing that this is the case, while somebody directing somebody to close it presents themself as knowing what to do. Questions are higher-level acts because they operate on either assertions or directions. To ask a question, a speaker adds an interrogative force indicator to an assertion or direction. In yes-no questions they thus indicate that they are wondering whether to affirm or reject this assertion or direction. In constituent questions like the question who closed the door or how to close it, the speaker indicates they are wondering how to complete the relevant act. The interrogative force indicator thus indicates the higher-level position of wondering, which strives for knowledge, while the assertive and directive force indicators present the kind of knowledge the subject is striving for. Force indication thus involves or is a form of self-consciousness which the project will investigate further in dialogue with theories of self-consciousness. The project will further show that logical acts like disjoining through or and fictional acts like playacting should like questions be understood as higher-level acts. This will make it possible to understand all acts of the actor uttering our initial question in his role as Hamlet in a unified framework. This framework also includes the proposal to understand logical acts in terms of affirmation rather than in terms of truth. For example, by disjoining one commits to affirming one of the disjuncts, regardless of the kind of act, whether they are statements, directions, or questions. The project will thus develop a framework for understanding meaning and mind that overcomes the neglect of practical questions in particular and the practical domain in general and treats the practical as having equal rank and being structurally parallel to the theoretical domain. To this end, it will also undertake to document and categorize the different forms practical questions take in the languages of the world.

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