Simple and Complex Conceptual Questions

Simple Conceptual Questions (Definitional)

Simple conceptual questions are settled through the criteria implicit in a standard definition of a word or phrase. To answer these questions, we need merely to understand established meanings of words and how they are properly applied to cases and circumstances. A beginning place for addressing simple conceptual questions is a good dictionary. Consider these examples:

1. What are the basic differences between the meanings of the words ‘socialization,’ ‘training,’ ‘indoctrination,’ and ‘education?’
2. Can a country be called a democracy if the political power is not in the hands of the people?
3. Can you love a person and not care about her/his welfare and interests?
4. If a government wages war on a civilian population, is it guilty of terrorism?
5. If a newspaper article on a contentious issue systematically implies that one side of the issue is correct, should it be considered unbiased?
6. Is torture compatible with respecting one’s basic rights?

Notice that each of these questions is settled as soon as one is clear about the relevant meanings of the key words: socialization, training, indoctrination, education, democracy, love, terrorism, and unbiased. Unless one has good reason to question the established meanings, there is little room for debate. To test what we are saying, look up each of the key words, list the relevant meanings, and insert them into the question in place of the key words.

Thus if democracy is a form of government in which the people rule, then the question, “Can a country be called a democracy if the political power is not in the hands of the people?” becomes “Can a country be said to have a government in which the people rule if the political power is not in the hands of the people?” In this form, the question answers itself.

Complex Conceptual Questions (Non-Definitional and Multi-sided)

Now let us turn to complex conceptual questions. In this case, standard definitions do not settle the question, but rather open the argument. Divergent points of view can be brought to bear on the definitions stretching them this way or that. Well-reasoned arguments can be devised from different standpoints. Consequently, there are better and worse answers to complex conceptual questions, but, at the present time, no “correct” or definitive answer (see questions of judgment on page 9).

Consider these examples:

1. To what extent is psychology scientific? To what extent is it not?
2. Is democracy compatible with communism? Are there different forms of democracy? Of communism? Is democracy compatible with capitalism? What does each concept presuppose and imply? What must we consider to decide these questions?
3. What is a true friend? Can you be a true friend to someone you dislike?
4. What is the difference between love, friendship, and mere emotional attachment?
5. Who is most responsible for the failure of the peace process in the Middle East?
6. What countries in the world should be considered rogue states?
7. Which of our laws are just and which unjust? And how does one decide?

To answer complex conceptual questions we need first to analyze the ways educated persons use the concepts that guide the settling of the questions. We need to figure out the most basic meanings of the terms crucial to the questions.