AXIOMS

logic.quest holds: a quest is decision under uncertainty.

Q ≡ ⟨d₁, d₂, …, dₙ⟩ , dᵢ ∈ D under Ω where Ω is the space of unknowns; a quest is a path through D when Ω is non-empty.

Define the system. Before a question can be asked, a structure must be agreed upon. logic.quest takes as primitive the notion of a decision under uncertainty: a movement made when the field of consequence is not yet collapsed. Every quest, however ornate, reduces to a sequence of such movements.

PREMISES

logic.quest assumes: every decision presupposes a question.

∀ d ∈ D ∃ q ∈ Q : d ⊢ q no decision is taken in silence; the act of choosing is itself the asking.

State the axioms. To decide is to discriminate; to discriminate is to have asked. The decision and the question are not sequential — they are the same act observed from opposite sides of the same glass. Therefore: wherever a decision is found, a question may be reconstructed.

INFERENCES

logic.quest infers: a question is a proposition over possibility.

q : P(Ω) → {⊤, ⊥} ∴ q ≡ φ over Ω the question, formalized, is a function from possible worlds to truth values — a proposition.

Reason without flinching. A question is not an utterance; it is a function. It carves the space of possible worlds into those in which it is satisfied and those in which it is not. Therefore: the question is a proposition. Therefore: to ask is to propose.

Q.E.D. ■

a quest is the act of asking.

read the proof again ↺