In Opening Lecture, Dr. Collins Questions the Need for Questions

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“Why do we need questions?”

Thomas Aquinas College, California’s own Dr. Sean Collins (‘79), a beloved tutor and graduate of the College, opened the 2025 St. Vincent de Paul Lecture and Concert Series with a question — about questions.

As Dean Michal Letteney stated in his opening remarks, Dr. Collins is notorious among the students for answering one question with another, provoking wonder and encouraging critical thinking, instead of providing immediate, easy solutions. It was no surprise, then, that Dr. Collins chose to explore and defend the art of asking questions.

At Thomas Aquinas College, questions are fundamental to the Socratic classroom dynamic, as they are the building blocks of a good discussion. To illustrate this point, Dr. Collins recalled some cautionary tales found in the Socratic dialogues: Without asking questions, we can err on the side of the Sophists, who only assert and never question; or we err on the side of those like Ion, who rely on inspiration alone. The extremes found here are excessive activity in the Sophists, and excessive receptivity in Ion. Both extremes hinder the pursuit of knowledge — too much assertion without question leads to closed-mindedness, while unbounded receptivity without question can lead to dangerous vulnerability.

However, a mind well-trained in asking questions is neither too assertive nor too receptive. “Questions express not just the bare receptivity of the mind,” Dr. Collins observed, “but a more perfected kind of receptivity that is the result of already knowing things.” By asking questions, we actively open ourselves up to knowledge, with a sort of foreknowledge. We are receptive, but not impressionable to a fault.

Additionally, Dr. Collins discussed what it means to ask a question well. He explained that the most crucial and most fulfilling questions are the ones that turn our gaze upwards and lead to mystery, the ones whose answers cannot be fully grasped in this life. “We should not be surprised to discover that, when we ask questions in the right way, even about lowly things and non-eternal things, we are often led to answers which both satisfy and yet create more yearning … perhaps more questions.”

The following question-and-answer session took place on St. Gladys Hall’s patio with an outstanding turnout – only standing room available! Attendees enjoyed refreshments and many thought-provoking conversations throughout the rest of the evening.

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