We are a practical people who take pride in quickly finding answers to our problems. Whether working on ourselves, for which the self-help industry has an inexhaustible set of remedies, or our society, for which politicians and interest groups have an unending series of proposals, we are constantly in search of answers. But answers only help if we are asking the right questions.
Do I use this or that diet? may be the wrong question if, in fact, weight gain is due to factors that a diet alone may not address. We thus recognize that the question: why do I constantly lose and then regain weight? might lead us down a different and more revealing path. Similarly, how do we pass stricter gun control measures? is one question to ask in confronting the number of gun-related deaths in our society, especially in the aftermath of the tragic automatic weapon attack that critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others in Arizona. But it's a different question entirely to ask: what in our culture increases the potential for violence against each other? This problem of finding the right questions shows up in most aspects of our personal lives and public policy.
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