What question did this study set out to answer?

This work aims to clarify what constitutes successfully answering a question and the associated challenges.

February 14, 2026Open Access

Inquiry and the Problem of Answering

Key Points

This work aims to clarify what constitutes successfully answering a question and the associated challenges.
Introduces the concept of the 'problem of answering'.
Explains the significance related to judgments in relation to inquiries.
Compares the problem of answering with established philosophical problems such as inference.
Identifies a distinction between merely having a judgment and meaningfully answering a question.
Highlights the unclear factors that give judgments significance in the inquiry process.

Abstract

ABSTRACT To inquire into some question Q is to try to answer Q . To understand inquiry, we must understand what constitutes success in this endeavor. What it is to answer Q ? The issue has been systematically neglected in philosophical work on inquiry. It raises a real puzzle. A judgment with a content p that actually settles Q doesn't necessarily constitute answering Q . To answer Q , a judgment must have additional significance connecting p with Q . It's not clear what gives a judgment such significance in inquiry. This article introduces this unsolved “problem of answering,” explains its difficulty, and draws a comparison with the problem of inference.

Inquiry and the Problem of Answering

Key Points

Abstract

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