Hypothetical question
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A hypothetical question is one that is answered only in terms of validity, not soundness. Thus the question is designed to make a number of assumptions, and be answered as if those assumptions are true.
For example, a person may ask: Would you eat the moon if it was made of barbecue spare ribs? This question presupposes that the moon could be made of barbecue spare ribs, and asks only whether or not you would eat it. An objection based upon the composition of the moon is not an appropriate answer for the question, as that is given to be decided. Only answers such as yes, no or depends on what kind of sauce is available would be valid answers for this hypothetical question.
However, a hypothetical question need not be patently absurd. One of the most famous hypothetical questions is the one asked of Michael Dukakis in a 1988 presidential debate: "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis [his wife] were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?"
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[edit] More Examples
- What if there were no such thing as a hypothetical question?
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
- What if I had some ice cream?
- What if someone had a knife to cut us out of this hypothetical situation?
- Which would you rather fight, one queen-size mattress or two single-size mattresses?
- If you were a bear with chainsaw arms, what would be your stance on deforestation?
- What would you do if I cheated on you?
- What would you do if I slapped you?
- What if I had been a leading mime artist in renaissance Hull? Would you mock me then?
- If trees screamed, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down?
- What if they screamed all the time for no good reason?
- Would you rather have another sibling or a toaster oven?
- Would you rather kill a turtle or have one of your good friends become a Scientologist?
- Were I to be a pretty, pretty lady, would you love me?
- If a shark were to high-five a bear with chainsaw arms, would it make a sound?
- What if 3-ways were required by law?
- What if Thucydides had been Herodotus? Would it make a sound?
- Would it make a sound?
- Could God, in his infinite Wisdom and Power, create a beer so bad that he himself could not drink it?
- If tissues were edible, what wine would be served with them?
- What if, in 1980, plutonium was available at every corner store?
- What if Jesus was the ultimate drinker?
- If wine could become blood, what blood type would it be?
- If you were an Athenian during the Peloponnesian War fleeing a litigious and plague ridden Athens, what former king/rapist turned bird would you go to for help? For extra credit, after you have constructed a wall blocking heaven off from earth, how would you convince Heracles to let you marry the Princess in order to become the highest divinity of all?
- If you were a girl, what would you do?
- If you were a boy, what would you do?
- What if Hitler won World War II?
