Don't Question This!

In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted. Bertrand Russell

I’ve always been taught that you don’t question that. How many times have you heard someone say this especially about their religious belief? But, isn’t this an unfortunate lesson to be taught? Would you teach your children not to ask questions? I would hope not but I suspect that many do in fact teach this quite harmful lesson.

What is so wrong about teaching the lesson not to ask questions?

First, it breeds a lack of curiosity. After all, why be curious about a subject if you have been taught not to question it. For that matter, why be curious about most subjects. Since you can't be quite sure that you ought to be asking questions about these areas as well it's probably best to play it safe. One never knows what trouble you might get into by being curious!

Second, it gives the misleading impression that we don’t have explanations for many phenomena for which we do have explanations. Without a sense of curiousity and what Bertrand Russell called the "will to find out," we miss out on discovering the truly fascinating explanations we do have for the world around us and why things are the way they are. For most of these areas explained by theories such as relativity, quantum mechanics, and evolution, the explanations we do have are much more fascinating than the explanation given and followed by "we don't question this."

The third problem with teaching the lesson not to ask questions is that it makes one vulnerable to demagogues and highly dubious claims. The heart of good critical thinking is the ability to ask the right questions and seek out evidence. In some cases, it is useful to be able to demand of others making claims that they validate these claims before we assent to them. But, the lesson of not asking questions undercuts these critical thinking skills. The price you pay for this is to be left vulnerable to any number of dubious claims. Think of how many of these claims you are exposed to each and every day from politicians, advertisers, lawyers, ministers, actors, CEOs, and many others. They all want you to believe the claims they are making and they all hope you don't ask too many questions.

A fourth problem with teaching the lesson not to ask questions is best explained by Richard Dawkins who calls it quite simply child abuse: “To slap a label on a child at birth - to announce, in advance, as a matter of hereditary presumption if not determinate certainty, an infant’s opinions on the cosmos and creation, on life and afterlives, on sexual ethics, abortion and euthanasia - is a form of mental child abuse.” What does he mean by this? I suspect in part his point is the point I have been trying to make in this post.

Parents teach by their actions even more than their words. If you want your children to be good critical thinkers you have to model this behavior. Likewise, if you model the behavior of not asking questions your child will learn this lesson. Is your reaction to this claim relief? Are you saying to yourself "Ah, good I was hoping to be able to teach my child that we don't ask questions about such important ultimate areas of human life?" If your answer to these questions is "yes" then there's really nothing left to say. But, if your answer is no then it might be time to begin asking questions where you have not been asking them before.