The Interrogative Model of Inquiry as a Logic of Scientific Reasoning

Abstract

Questioning has been understood as a general method for knowledge seeking in philosophy for thousands of years. The first systematic questioning approach in the (written) history of philosophy is the Socratic Method of Questioning (elenchus). The strategy of questioning is the central part of the Socratic Method of Questioning. Hintikka has developed a logico-philosophical model called the Interrogative Model of Inquiry, in which he systematizes the questioning method. The notion of strategy plays central role in the systematization. The deductive logic offers a strategic ideal for all human rational reasoning.