How do you solve a problem like rhetorical questions?

[Grove]

Yeah, so I have a little bit of a problem distinguishing what many people call "rhetorical" questions from actual questions. Maybe I'm just thick (always my first assumption), but, really, is there a difference? My problem may stem from an incident during a high school lecture in which my history teacher tried to explain the difference between a rhetorical and a real question. His example of a rhetorical question was "How did civilization begin?" I was only half paying attention, but I heard this question and raised my hand. He responded by saying "Elizabeth, that was not a real question, it was a rhetorical question, and therefore doesn't have an answer." I responded with "Yes it does, I know the answer." He ignored me and went on with his lecture.

The frightening implications of a history teacher claiming that questions pertaining to the dawn of civilization can not be or should not be answered aside, 15 years later I'm still having trouble understanding the difference between the real and the rhetorical question. When asked any question I respond in one of four ways.

1. I know the answer and tell them the answer.
2. I know part of the answer, and tell them indicating that this is only part of the answer.
3. I don't know the answer, but I know enough about whatever subject the question resides in, so I theorize and postulate, and frame other questions that may lead to answering the first question. 4. I don't know...but this person might so you should ask them.

At this point I'll get stares, blinks, and annoyed "yeah, that was a rhetorical question" replies. Maybe no one else knows the difference either. Maybe I'm just weird.

My question to you: What is the difference between a real and a rhetorical question?

 

[Dormouse]

Huh, I have similar problems...

Friend: Why do we need men around, anyways?
Me: Well, biologi-
Friend: Shut up. You know what I mean.

To me rhetorical questions have always been the ones people are asking themselves, or just saying for the sake of filling air.

 

[JoeJoe]

I think there are more kinds of questions than just rhetorical and "real". Or rather, there are several types of rhetorical questions.

- The answer is really obvious and short, can be given by somebody else or not.
- There is an obvious answer but the question can be answered on so many levels and so detailed that either no answer or a witty answer is given.
ex: Why do we need men anyways? - So bad girls can be raped. (OK, maybe not such a good example)
- A philosophical question can be just thrown into the room during a casual conversation or lead to an earnest philosophical debate/talk.
- A "real" question: The answer is not hard, you just have to know it.

I guess that problems arise when the questioned person interprets the questioners intention differently.

 

[Geminii]

Rhetorical questions can have answers, they're just deemed to not need a spoken reply in the given social context.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question

They're a device of speech (or rhetoric) in the form of a question, rather than being a question-requiring-answer.

They're not really a problem, exactly... which, I guess, makes the thread title a rhetorical question itself. Heh.

I presume the incident with the history teacher was the teacher using the form to imply "This next lesson or course is going to be about civilisation and how it began. I want you to be thinking along these lines, audience, so I am asking this faux-question in order to draw your thoughts to the subject and thus be in the appropriate frame of mind for the issues I will be introducing shortly", or something along those lines.

It wasn't so much that the question itself did not need serious investigation by entire branches of science, but that it wasn't requiring a verbal response in that particular time and place.

Distinguishing the rhetorical question does require some ability to follow the mindset of the person asking it, as well as the conventions of the social context they ask it in. It's why it's easy to make the wrong call (in both directions) if full attention wasn't being paid (or if the asker isn't a good communicator or gives the wrong verbal/social cues).

 

[EditorOne]

That response was spang on the money.

Here's a rhetorical question in e-speak: "WTF?" It's intended to convey exasperation or astonishment rather than elicit an answer.

However, Grove, one of the best ways to destroy the intended effect of a question to which no answer is expected is to give an unexpected answer. Sometimes the literal answer deflates the original speaker's attempt to appear clever.

 

[Hawkeye]

Is this question rhetorical?

 

[Chimera]

Usually I answer real questions with sarcasm.
Usually I answer rhetorical answers with sarcasm.
So instead of me having to decipher whether it's rhetorical or not, they have to decipher
- if I'm being sarcastic
- what I really meant if I was sarcastic
- whether I think their question was rhetorical or not
- if the answer behind my sarcasm was serious.

Of course, that's too much interpretation for them to bother with, so they'll just shrug it off and keep talking about whatever they were talking about. Works like a charm.

Or, like Editor said, you can give an answer that they don't expect. Always fun too.
​

 

[JoeJoe]

Is this question rhetorical?

No, because the answer is not immediately cle-- oh, wait. Yes, it's a rhetorical question because the obvious answer is no.


Very nice paradox. Congratulations, if you came up with it yourself.

 

[Grove]

However, Grove, one of the best ways to destroy the intended effect of a question to which no answer is expected is to give an unexpected answer. Sometimes the literal answer deflates the original speaker's attempt to appear clever.

Yeah, this can be a lot of fun.

I do know that the examples above are rhetorical questions, and are not meant to elicit a response. I'd like to think I'm not that far gone.

Better examples of what I mean:

Any given person: Asking why X happens is like asking why the sky is blue, there isn't a point.
Me: There is a point to asking X, and we know why the sky is blue.

Any given individual upset with a guy: He is such a jerk...why do they have to act that way when they are around their guy friends?
Me: Yeah, that was a jerky thing to do...and some would argue that they act that way because they have to maintain a gender performance. Men live in a world where their masculinity is constantly under attack and they have to maintain their position in the guy hierarchy. He acted that way because he cared more about his status in the group than how you might feel about his actions.

These are the types of questions I have a problem not answering, or understanding that they might not be questions looking for an answer. Does anyone else experience this?

 

[Lithorn]

Any given individual upset with a guy: He is such a jerk...why do they have to act that way when they are around their guy friends?
Me: Yeah, that was a jerky thing to do...and some would argue that they act that way because they have to maintain a gender performance. Men live in a world where their masculinity is constantly under attack and they have to maintain their position in the guy hierarchy. He acted that way because he cared more about his status in the group than how you might feel about his actions.

These are the types of questions I have a problem not answering, or understanding that they might not be questions looking for an answer. Does anyone else experience this?

In a case like this, it's not so much a rhetorical question as just part of the venting. Rhetorical questions are not the only kinds of questions which don't require answers.

 

[BigApplePi]

Answer: I love to answer rhetorical questions. That often gets me in a lot of trouble. Anyway, he's the answer:

The answer lies not in the question, but in the questioner. One looks into the person asking this "question." If they want it answered, you may try. If they are just expressing themselves, they don't want to be interrupted.

Another piece of free advice: Why would you ask a rhetorical question in front of an INTP knowing he/she's an INTP? Why would you take such a risk?

 

[Grove]

Answer:Another piece of free advice: Why would you ask a rhetorical question in front of an INTP knowing he/she's an INTP? Why would you take such a risk?

Excellent question!

 

[BigApplePi]

Excellent question!

Another question, another answer:

Because poor INTPs are not understood. Now here's a question:

I know INTPs can be appreciated, but who can really understand them? Only another INTP???

 

[Grove]

I know INTPs can be appreciated, but who can really understand them? Only another INTP???

Doubful.