Aman Shah

Create Your Own Truth

The Present Tense of a Continous Inquiry

Almost all the time, as it were, in all areas of research, before we come to the solution to a problem, if we manage to dig out an interesting question of which we want to address the problem, this in my opinion is that silence which comes before the storm of impending success. Martin Heidegger says:

Every inquiry is a seeking [Suchen]. Every seeking gets guided beforehand by what is sought. Inquiry is a cognizant seeking for an entity both with regard to the fact that it is and with regard to its Being as it is. This cognizant seeking can take the form of’investigating’ [“Untersuchen”], in which one lays bare that which the question is about and ascertains its character. Any inquiry, as an inquiry about something, has that which is asked about [sein Gefragtes]. But all inquiry about something is somehow a questioning of something [Anfragen bei …]. So in addition to what is asked about, an inquiry has that which is interrogated rein Befragtes]. In investigative questions-that is, in questions which are specifically theoretical-what is asked about is determined and conceptualized. Furthermore, in what is asked about there lies also that which is to be found out by the asking [das Erfragte]; this is what is really intended.

Being and Time

In other words, by merely asking a question, we keep thin feathers of hope that in the transparency of the meaning of the question, there lies the solution, the truth, and all the haves and have-nots embedded in it.

What follows from this fact is that questions must be looked at without trying to provide any solutions. Why? The moment we think we have reached a solution, we automatically and completely remove that question that has brought us to this point and eventually forget it. If that happens, if we forget the question, the crude understanding of the entity present in the question will inevitably be lost from our field. And suppose we value this entity—whatever that might be—just by developing and improving how we ask the question, this will suffice to come near to this entity.  

Solutions are packaged in the bag of problems. And we must ensure that the package remains shut.