Phenomenology of Questioning: A Meditation on Interogative Mood

Abstract

What is questioning? We do not normally ask this question because we are preoccupied with asking about this or about that. In normal questioning, questioning is not directed to itself; it is directed to what is other than itself. That is, we do not normally question questioning. Phenomenology of questioning turns onto this questioning of questioning and seeks to describe its findings. Included in these findings is the characteristic of bringing forth into the open, a characteristic that finds one of its clearest statement in the thinking of Martin Heidegger. Also among the findings, is the manner in which the questioner is drawn into the bringing forth of the questioning. The questioner is brought forth in his or her essential nature as one whose to be is to bringing forth. Moreover, when questioning is directed to other than itself, what it is pertains to what it questions in manner that allows what is questioning to bring forth its essential nature. Lastly, the phenomenology of questioning turns out to be the site for phenomenology of phenomenology. Essentially, the latter is revealed as bringing forth into the open.