Questioning is a major form of human thought and interpersonal communication. The thinker employs a series of questions to explore an issue, an idea or something intriguing. Questioning is the process of forming and wielding that series to develop answers and insight.
The term may have the following specific meanings.
- Interrogation
- Scepticism, a state of uncertainty or doubt, or of challenging a previously-held belief
- Questioning (sexuality and gender) - a phase or period where an individual re-assesses their sexual orientation/identity and/or gender identity
- Questioning plays a central role in Narrative Therapy
Famous quotes containing the word questioning:
“The essence of morality is a questioning about morality; and the decisive move of human life is to use ceaselessly all light to look for the origin of the opposition between good and evil.”
—Georges Bataille (1897–1962)
“I would say that deconstruction is affirmation rather than questioning, in a sense which is not positive: I would distinguish between the positive, or positions, and affirmations. I think that deconstruction is affirmative rather than questioning: this affirmation goes through some radical questioning, but it is not questioning in the field of analysis.”
—Jacques Derrida (b. 1930)
“As long as male behavior is taken to be the norm, there can be no serious questioning of male traits and behavior. A norm is by definition a standard for judging; it is not itself subject to judgment.”
—Myriam Miedzian, U.S. author. Boys Will Be Boys, ch. 1 (1991)