‘If you’re just interested in answers, you are missing out’: philosopher Lani Watson on the power of asking questions
Why This Matters
Key context: <p>The author and academic explains how an open, questioning mindset can bring people with opposing views closer together – and even change history</p><p>Asking a question can change your mood, and having a questioning mindset can change your life – or, as the philosopher Lani Watson, an honorary fellow at the University of Edinburgh, is more likely to put it, “create change in your life”. When you live in an answer-oriented world, your phrasing tends towards the glib certainty, which is one of the things Watson – speaking to me from her home in Edinburgh – seems quite naturally to avoid.</p><p>Questioning fosters exploration and curiosity, she says. It changes your relationship to yourself and to others: it can make you fall in love; it can stop you going to war. Watson’s challenging book, <a href="https://guardianbookshop.com/q-9781847927842/">Q: The Hidden Power of Questions in a World that Wants Answers</a>, is written with a deceptive simplicity and an almost kindly encouragement, so you’re knee-deep into her proposition before you have even considered that it might turn out to be quite hard work.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/21/philosopher-lani-watson-power-of-asking-questions">Continue reading...</a> This development from The Guardian highlights ongoing changes in the sector.
The author and academic explains how an open, questioning mindset can bring people with opposing views closer together – and even change historyAsking a question can change your mood, and having a questioning mindset can change your life – or, as the philosopher Lani Watson, an honorary fellow at the University of Edinburgh, is more likely to put it, “create change in your life”. When you live in an answer-oriented world, your phrasing tends towards the glib certainty, which is one of the things Watson – speaking to me from her home in Edinburgh – seems quite naturally to avoid.Questioning fosters exploration and curiosity, she says. It changes your relationship to yourself and to others: it can make you fall in love; it can stop you going to war. Watson’s challenging book, Q: The Hidden Power of Questions in a World that Wants Answers, is written with a deceptive simplicity and an almost kindly encouragement, so you’re knee-deep into her proposition before you have even considered that it might turn out to be quite hard work. Continue reading...
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