The Question of the Question: Towards Founding the Logic of Questionnaire

This article stems from a fundamental observation: the logical and philosophical tradition, throughout its long history, has directed its primary efforts to the study of declarative propositions—sentences that bear truth or falsity—while largely neglecting the study of questions as logical propositions in their own right. Questions have typically been treated as instruments for reaching propositions, or as secondary applications in the realm of fallacies, rather than as subjects deserving an independent theory. Yet careful reflection reveals that the question, in its deep structure, is not merely a request for knowledge, but an implicit proposition that incorporates presuppositions, loads concepts, and delineates the boundaries of possible answers. A question may be logically correct or incorrect independently of whether it is useful, relevant, or appropriate. This article presents a novel theoretical framework under the title "Questionhood of Questions" or "Logic of Pre-Answer," proposing a methodology for examining questions as compound propositions, drawing on multiple fields: formal logic, philosophy of language, semantics, mathematics, epistemology, and cognitive science. The article argues that neglecting the propositional nature of questions has produced an accumulation of paradoxes and fallacies that could not be resolved at the level of answers, because the flaw lies in the questions themselves. It also links this proposal to context theory, since corrupt contexts generate corrupt questions, and examining the question is an entry point to dismantling the context. The article concludes that establishing a "logic of questions" is not merely an academic addition, but an epistemic necessity for escaping numerous philosophical, scientific, and practical impasses, and a fundamental step towards building a more rigorous and coherent theory of knowledge. An appendix lays the foundation for a formal system of the logic of questionhood.