Questions and Queries

After reading the front page piece in the June issue about Quaker queries, Kate wrote to ask what the difference is between a question and a query. That was worth thinking about! My initial reaction was that the difference lies in what is expected – an answer or a response. But that was not sufficient because it required further thinking. What in fact is the difference between an answer and a response?

The best answer to Lewis Carroll’s famous riddle – why is a raven like a writing desk – is that a raven isn’t like a writing desk. In this case too, we can start by asserting that an answer is not the same as a response, but what could the difference be?

Questions should have answers, ideally ones we can all agree on. What is 2 plus 2? What color is the sky on a clear day? Where are my glasses? Simple questions with simple answers. Even if the question is complicated – what is the relationship between bond prices and yields – it is either accurate or not, and if it is accurate, the answer doesn’t change.

Queries are different. They should elicit responses rather than answers – responses that may well be very different for each person and each person’s responses are likely, even expected, to change over time. When we respond to a query, we are not concerned with getting it right, but simply with bringing our own feelings and intentions into the light – as much for ourselves as for anyone else.

However, there is room for some overlap in the two categories. Did Kate pose for me a question or a query? If it is a query, then there may be many different ways to think about it. If it is a question, then this explanation may actually be the answer.

Why is a raven like a writing desk is a riddle and, like a question, riddles have answers, at least playful ones. A query is not a riddle, however; it is designed to elicit a response rather than a definitive answer and it always has a purpose.

Carol