Question

• CURIE: gmeow:Question
• IRI: https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/Question
• Category: class
• Defined by: gmeow:slices/inquiry
• Box roles: TBox role (What is this?)

Erotetic content individuated by its ANSWERHOOD CONDITION — the set of propositions counting as direct answers — not by a truth-condition. Existing by social convention like every description, it is a gmeow:SocialObject. A Question is neither true nor false (unlike a gmeow:Proposition) nor satisfied (unlike a gmeow:Goal): it is RESOLVED by an accepted answer. It is the erotetic sibling of gmeow:Proposition (assertoric) and gmeow:Goal (optative): the three share the gmeow:SocialObject genus and differ only in their mode of content — truth-condition, satisfaction-condition, answerhood-condition.

Structure

Subclass of: gmeow:SocialObject

Practical Pattern

Use gmeow:Question as a specialized kind of gmeow:SocialObject. Add statement metadata or a standpoint when the assertion needs provenance, confidence, or vantage.

Example Snippets

These snippets are generated from canonical slice examples and trimmed to the Turtle blocks where this term appears.

Loaded Question

• Source: slices/core/inquiry/examples/loaded-question.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-core-inquiry-examples-loaded-question

@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/inquiry/> .
@prefix rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .



# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Blackcat Informatics® Inc. <paudley@blackcatinformatics.ca>
# SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0
#
# Worked example — a LOADED question via the deception bridge, with NO new
# axiom. The classic "have you stopped cheating?" is a polar gmeow:Question that
# gmeow:presupposes a proposition ("you were cheating"). Loadedness is NOT a flag
# on the question: it is a gmeow:StandpointClaim over the presupposed proposition
# carrying gmeow:claimModality gmeow:refuted — a standpoint DENIES the
# presupposition, exposing the question as loaded. This reuses the standpoint /
# deception machinery (P6); there is no isLoaded bit and no truth bit anywhere.

# --- The polar question and the proposition it takes for granted.
ex:stoppedCheating a gmeow:Question ;
    gmeow:questionType gmeow:typePolar ;
    gmeow:presupposes ex:wasCheating ;
    rdfs:label "have you stopped cheating?"@en .

Open Question And Resolution

• Source: slices/core/inquiry/examples/open-question-and-resolution.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-core-inquiry-examples-open-question-and-resolution

@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/inquiry/> .
@prefix rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .



ex:whereIsKey a gmeow:Question ;
    gmeow:questionType gmeow:typeWh ;
    rdfs:label "where is the key?"@en .

Common Companion Terms

gmeow:SocialObject

External Equivalences

Equivalent or closely aligned targets: schema

Linkages

Generated from the canonical mapping DSL. SSSOM files are the generated public interchange form for term equivalences.

Term Equivalences

Usage Advice

Use when

• Use to mint erotetic content as its own object — the thing an agent asks, wonders about, or inquires into — so the same question can be held open by several agents and answered differently from different vantages (Principle 9); reach for it whenever what is recorded is an open problem rather than a held belief or a pursued goal.

Avoid when

• Avoid treating a Question as true/false (it has no truth-condition — that is a gmeow:Proposition) or as satisfied/unsatisfied (that is a gmeow:Goal), and avoid subsuming it under either, which would erase the content-mode distinction; a Question is resolved by an accepted answer, never asserted as a fact.

How to use

• Mint the Question once, classify it with gmeow:questionType, link its presuppositions with gmeow:presupposes and its candidate answers with gmeow:answers (each vantage-indexed), and record that an agent holds it open through the flat inquiry spine; resolve it by reusing the epistemics spine (gmeow:accepts / gmeow:knowsThat) over an answer-claim rather than minting a new resolved state.

Scope notes

• Content-mode bridge (documentation only — no axiom): Proposition (truth-condition) · Goal (satisfaction-condition) · Question (answerhood-condition) are three gmeow:SocialObject siblings differing in mode of content, never by subsumption. There is deliberately NO rdfs:subClassOf between them; subsumption would erase the content-mode distinction, so the link stays by reference (the Proposition/Goal precedent).

Examples

• ex:whereIsTheKey a gmeow:Question; gmeow:questionType gmeow:typeWh.