Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr) header
Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr) profile picture

An expert on Questions. Author, Educator, YouTuber and Professional Philosopher (PhD). My book "Q" on the power of questions is published by Penguin

Edinburgh
Joined November 2025
Photo by Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr)Photo by Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr)Photo by Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr)Photo by Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr)Photo by Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr)Photo by Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr)Photo by Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr)Photo by Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr)Photo by Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr)Photo by Lani Watson (@TheQuestionsDr)
What happens if you spend years taking questions seriously… After more than a decade researching questions, Q is now out in the world. If you’d like to see where all those questions led: smalltalk.lnk.to/QLaniWatson #Q #TheQuestionsDr #Questions
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Very grateful for this positive review of Q in The Spectator, by Joe Dolce. Q is out now. #Q #TheQuestionsDr #BookReview #Books #Curiosity smalltalk.lnk.to/QLaniWatson
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I’m a philosopher who specialises in questions, and I’d like your help with one of the hardest questions I know. What is a question… Add your answer here: philosophyofquestions.com/qu… #Q #TheQuestionsDr #Questions
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Really pleased to see Q reviewed in The Wall Street Journal. Andrew Stark picked up on something I cared about in writing the book: keeping a serious subject readable, curious and self-aware. Q is out now. smalltalk.lnk.to/QLaniWatson #Q #TheQuestionsDr #BookReview #Books
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Questions are power. They direct attention. They decide what counts as relevant. They can connect, challenge, expose, comfort, distract or control. The power is ordinary, but it is not small. #Q #TheQuestionsDr #Questioning #Curiosity #Nonfiction
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Try assumption-mining: take a question and remove or change its opening question word. You may expose something the original wording quietly assumed. You don’t have to reject the assumption — just notice it before you answer. #Q #QuestioningMindset
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Join the questioneers — the community around the wider Q / Questions Dr project and a more question-oriented future. Sign up to the newsletter to stay connected: philosophyofquestions.com/#n… #Q #TheQuestionsDr
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What did you wonder about as a child… A strange question, a huge one, or something you still think about now. Share one you remember. #Q #Questions #Curiosity
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A resource worth exploring: The Philosophy Foundation. Peter Worley’s Question X is a practical example of using questions to open up discussion. Resource: philosophy-foundation.org/as… #Q #Questioning
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A study cited in Q found that young children asked an average of 107 spoken questions an hour in conversations with adults. That’s an average, not a rule — but it shows how central questioning can be to childhood. What did you ask endlessly? #Q #Curiosity
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Where are you reading Q. At a desk, on a train, in a café, in bed, in a library, or somewhere I would never guess… Share a photo and tag @TheQuestionsDr. #Q #Books
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Good podcast conversations don’t just extract answers — they create room to think, pause and change direction. The Questions Dr podcast will be resuming new episodes shortly. Listen to the existing episodes here: open.spotify.com/show/57rEQP… #Podcast
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A Friday Q Tool: change the question word. Take a question you are stuck with and swap what, when, where, who, why or how. A small change in wording can open a different route through the problem. #Questions #Curiosity
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Questions are power. They direct attention. They decide what counts as relevant. They can connect, challenge, expose, comfort, distract or control. The power is ordinary, but it is not small. #Questions #Q
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Q of the Week: what question would you ask the future… It could be personal, political, scientific, hopeful or unsettling. The future does not have to answer — but the question may reveal what matters to you now. #QuestionOfTheWeek
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Happy Hobbit Day to anyone who likes their questions with a little adventure. Before Bilbo or Frodo stepped beyond the familiar, what question do you think they most needed to ask… #HobbitDay #Questions
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Peace polling helped bring peace in Northern Ireland: when actually asked, the public turned out to be more accepting of difficult compromises than politicians expected. What might change if leaders asked before deciding what compromise was possible… #Questions
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The point of Q is not that answers do not matter. Of course they do. The point is that better answers depend on better questions — and we live in a world that teaches us to value one far more than the other. From an answer-oriented world to a question-oriented future. #Q
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A small weekend practice: ask one person something real. Not dramatic. Not intrusive. Just a question that gives them room to answer honestly — and then listen. What will you ask… #Questions
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Almost everyone knows the fear of the stupid question. You have the question. You rehearse it, edit it, decide it is not good enough to take up the room. Then the moment passes. What question have you held back… #Questions
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Q of the Week: what question starts the best conversations… Not necessarily the cleverest or deepest. Sometimes it is the one that creates enough room for someone to answer honestly. #QuestionOfTheWeek
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