Some Questions Assume the Thing They Are Looking For

Some questions make a decision before the search begins.

They assume there is a thing to find.

They assume it has a stable form.

They assume we would recognize it if we encountered it.

Then the search becomes difficult and we blame the difficulty on the object.

Koans and philosophical riddles sometimes expose this structure by making the search itself unstable.

The value is not that a riddle proves a metaphysical doctrine.

It is that the riddle can reveal an assumption hidden inside the question.

What am I presuming exists?

What form have I already decided the answer must take?

Would I recognize an answer that did not fit that form?

Questions about identity are especially vulnerable to this.

If we ask, Who am I really?, we may already be imagining that a final object called the real self is waiting somewhere to be located.

That may be one philosophical possibility.

It is not the only one.

Sometimes better inquiry begins by loosening the noun hidden inside the question.

Before looking harder for the answer, examine what the question has already assumed about what can be found.