Questions and answers. Critical analysis of Ajdukiewicz's theory of questions

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present critical analysis of Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz's theory of questions. Generally, the author concentrates on four elements of Ajdukiewicz's theory of questions: the structure of question, the classification of questions, the concept of presuppositions of questions and the concept of answer. Ajdukiewicz's contributions in the domain of logic of questions are unquestionable. However, there are still many 'gaps' in his conception of questions that need to be filled. He proposes some improvements to this conception. They include an explication of the concepts of 'query' and 'tenor', a classification of complementation questions by use of categorial grammar, enriching the concept of 'assumptions' by the concept of 'pragmatic assumptions', and an explication of the concept of 'answer' (in general).