PeteOlcott wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 1:24 pm
You have done far better than anyone else has ever done.
All of my prior reviewers have insisted that there is nothing
wrong with the question because they simply did not believe
in "situational context". (I never used that term before).
When there is something wrong with the question (such as the
question is contradictory) such that it has no correct answer
(within the situational context) then I think it is apt to classify
the question as incorrect (within that situational context).
That you accept that there is something wrong with the question
is better agreement than I have ever achieved previously (since 2004).
I'll give a shot at explaining why I balk at 'incorrect' but not at 'there is something wrong with it'.
A question, in this case, is an attempt to get at information (if we take the question seriously/at face value, rather than say ironic/being tricky/manipulative/etc.) It's not an assertion. It includes implict positions that are like assertions. So, the first problem I have with 'incorrect' is it is a global assessment. Rather than there is a problem with a part of it. If we take it at face value someone is trying to get information and this is conveyed. Even about what. The problem comes in because aimed at Carol, she cannot give one of the options available as an answer. But, if we take this question at face value, we have learned that the person wants to know something, that it has to do either with Carol or what one can do in this situation. There has been some effective communication and then there is something wrong with the question. So, to me it is more complicated than 'incorrect.'
I live in Norway and this means I am used to long winter days. That's partially incorrect as a sentence, not simply an incorrect sentence. And part of this is me viewing a question as an act. An act between person A and at least one person B.
The second problem I have with 'incorrect', is that it seems like a category error judgment.
The question What is the capital of England? does not seem correct to me. As in 'that is a correct question.'
I would find it odd if I asked someone a question and they turned to someone else and said Oh, that was a correct question because it could be answered and met other criteria. So, even the postive 'correct' seems like a category error to me.
(there are situations where one might say 'that is the right question', which would mean something like, given your goals that was the right question to ask and not some other question. IOW it's not an evaluation of the question itself, how it is formulated, does it allow a correct answer and so on, but rather is it the right question for a given purpose.)
And to be clear again. Nothing I am saying here supports the
responder not having a good answer being the responder's fault. I would be stunned if most people would think someone not able to answer your key example questions has a problem. In nearly 20 years????
To me
incorrect question is a bit like
incorrect horse. Though obviously a horse is further away from an assertion or truth claim than a question. I could happily go along with
that question includes an incorrect assumption, a false limitation on potential answers...., etc.. Assertions/descriptions of the question in a more nuanced way and actually focusing on the part that to me
can be incorrect.
I can try to find some other examples that might be useful as contrast.
Exclamations. F---- me. Expressive rather than assertive. And not just that it's not literal - for example, someone might say this when angry at someone else. So, even taken metaphorically, it's an odd incorrect suggestion to fit the moment. If we look at it as a suggestion rather than expressive of frustration and rage.
A question does need good assumptions, in some perhaps nearly cases, to meet the goal of the questioner. To get information. But the assumptions are only part of the act.
An imperative. Someone swats a fly on their own shoulder that is near another person's shoulder. Person B says Don't try to hit me.
I don't think
Don't try to hit me is an incorrect sentence.
The person misinterpreted what happened, but that sentence isn't incorrect - because that's not the right category of problem. (I'm a little unsure if this example helps, but I am searching around for ways to come at it). Even though there is an implicit mistake in the imperative sentence Don't try to hit me. - that the person was trying to hit themis false - I don't think the sentence is incorrect. The incorrectness, here, is outside the sentence, even though the sentence includes the assumption.
Anyway that's my mulling.
But I think the most important things is:
I am stunned that people would think the failure is in the person answering the types of questions you are studying. I mean, I'd love to take a compliment, but really, I find it very hard to believe people think there is a good answer for Carol so if she doesn't answer she's at fault for not giving information.
Probably I'd have a very different take on whatever the important ramifications of this issue are if I knew what they were.