Essentially anything ending in a question mark is a question. For example, If I say "Drace?" I'm asking for confirmation. and you would answer by confirming.
Well but then saying Drace at that point would mean that it is being connected to another point.
If your friends are talking about The Drace, and you say Drace? The question is "Who is Drace?".
I would say it is possible to just ask "why" without having a further verbal question or a previous statement or question.
It all just depends on what ties "why" has--what meaning it's saturated with or what can be inferred from it. It may not be direct or have the common function of a question, but it can stand alone.
Interestingly enough, my uncle was taking a philosophy course at a university like maybe 5-6 years back, and the final exam was just a piece of paper with "Why?" written on it. he ended up failing the exam for merely putting down "Why not?"
why to touch yourself at night? why did you post this crap? why do i ask you this? Why did i write 5 questions in a row? why do i answer the ultimate question withought saying anything cool?
Interestingly enough, my uncle was taking a philosophy course at a university like maybe 5-6 years back, and the final exam was just a piece of paper with "Why?" written on it. he ended up failing the exam for merely putting down "Why not?"
I lol'd.
If I had to write an essay on it, I would take a leaf out of Dennett's book and write something like "the human mind has made the most curious adaptation, of generating a belief that it is not only conscious but that this consciousness must find value in the question of making metaphysical queries i.e. 'why?' With this said..."
