Shimer is based on dialogue, on coming together with the purpose of entertaining meaningful conversation. Without the question without the ability to question conversation turns to mere talk. Talk without the question can degenerate into nothing more than chatter. Thinkers from Heraclitus, Plato, through to Martin Heidegger have placed great emphasis on the recognition of this. In Buddhism, too, right speech forms part of the eightfold path which the monk must tread.
True meaning arises only in the presence of the question.
The question is the beginning of inquiry. It is therefore the beginning of the coming-together that characterizes Shimer s ideal. The question sets the tone of the inquiry, as well as providing the possibilities that this may manifest. Though it may ring somewhat odd, the question to my mind deserves more attention than the answer. If I have come to know anything at Shimer, it is that there are a great multitude of good questions, but very few good answers.