metaquestion

A metaquestion is a question about questions, or about the process, criteria, or limits of questioning itself. In philosophy, linguistics, and cognitive science, a metaquestion examines what makes a question meaningful, answerable, or appropriate in a given context, rather than seeking information about a subject matter directly.

The prefix meta- signals self-reference or a higher-order level of analysis. Common examples include "What is a question?", "What makes this question well-formed?", or "Is this question answerable given the available information?" Metaquestions often concern the rules, scope, and assumptions governing inquiry rather than the substantive content of a topic.

In logic and semantics, metaquestions help study the properties of interrogatives, such as their truth-conditional content, presuppositions, and the way questions frame discourse. They can illuminate how questions influence the relevance and structure of possible answers, and how different contexts affect what counts as a satisfactory response.

In artificial intelligence and data collection, metaquestions are used to evaluate the quality and clarity of questions, identify biases, or reason about the performance of a question-answering system. They can guide the design of questionnaires, surveys, and dialogue interfaces by focusing on question well-formedness, utility, and fairness.

Metaquestions are distinct from paradoxes or purely self-referential statements, though they may intersect when a question concerns the rules of reasoning or the criteria for meaningful inquiry. The concept links to metacognition and metalevel reasoning and serves as a tool for reflecting on inquiry methods across disciplines.