who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ...

339curiosity cannot exist, although curiosity without a question is widespread among higheranimals. Every one who has ever had pets would agree that curiosity is a natural part ofanimal behavior (about the role of play and curiosity among animals see Lorenz, 1971).Although curiosity and the ability to ask questions are closely related, there is a bigdifference between these two phenomenon as well.If curiosity is a natural desire of higher animals to know more about theworldaround them, the ability to ask questions is the most powerful strategy of themind to satisfy curiosity.I would suggest that the question is “materialized curiosity”. Although aquestion is formulated by an individual, when it is formulated as a communication signalit makes possible an enormous innovation: involvement of all members of the group insettling the problem. So, when “materialized” in a question, curiosity becomes apowerful engine, pushing cognitive development far ahead.Another crucial element of the future human questioning behavior among animalsis question intonation. Question intonation is much more limited in the animalkingdom than curiosity, and chimpanzees might be the only species that posses it (outsideof genus Homo). Although question intonation still does not seem to be used amongchimpanzees for inquiries about the informational state of each other’s minds, the usequestion intonation among chimpanzees as an “open structure” that leads to vocalexchanges must be one of the most powerful evolutionary indications of the later humanability to ask questions. Following Derek Bickerton’s popular term, protolanguage, wecould call the “inquiring pant-hoots” used by chimpanzees, with the rising intonation, butstill not used for inquiring into the information states of each other, proto-question.• Who could answer the first question when it wasformulated?This is a methodologically very important question. We all know that any kind ofevolutionary progress, whether that be a result of human invention or of gene mutation,will make an impact on the individual’s survival chances and will be included inevolution only if the environment provides a basis for the positive use of this new abilityat the very moment of the appearance of the new genetic ability.By the time the genetic mutation brought to life the new revolutionary ability toask questions, the situation could be volatile: there was possibly only one, the very firsthuman being with the new human ability to ask questions. So what could she or he do?How to use the new ability? It might seem that without other humans around able toanswer the first questions of the first human, this new ability would be to no avail and ofno advantage.The answer to this ostensibly difficult question is very clear and easy: we can besure that all members of the hominid groups of our ancestors were able to answerthe question of the first human. I am confident of this because experimental studies ofape mental abilities during the last few decades have provided ample proof that apes arevery good at understanding questions and answering them properly. Knowing theability of apes to answer questions, there can be no doubt that our hominid ancestorswith bigger brains would be at least as good at answering questions as apes.