Beyond Answers: Gadamer, AI, and the Educational Art of Questioning
Renata Ramos

Much of the debate about artificial intelligence in education has centred on the answers AI provides: whether they are reliable, whether they can support learning, and whether they might take over tasks traditionally performed by teachers or students. Enthusiasts and critics differ in their assessments, but often share the assumption that the educational value (or danger) of AI lies chiefly in its capacity to produce answers.

This paper begins elsewhere, with the questions we bring to AI and what happens to them in the course of an exchange. Drawing on Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, I consider questioning as central to understanding rather than simply a means of obtaining information. A question does not arise from nowhere: it reflects certain expectations and assumptions, while also opening the possibility that these may be revised.

Interactions with artificial language systems bring this process into view. Users must formulate what they want to know, make sense of the response, and decide where to take the inquiry next. But how far can this exchange genuinely be described as dialogue? And what kind of understanding, if any, does it foster? By approaching these questions through Gadamer, I will explore how AI might alter our educational practices and what role remains for teachers in cultivating the ability to ask questions in a culture increasingly shaped by the promise of immediate answers.

Renata Ramos is Professor of Philosophy of Education and Epistemology of Educational Sciences at Fluminense Federal University (UFF), Brazil. Holds a PhD in Philosophy from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, with a thesis on Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. Research and publications focus on philosophical hermeneutics, philosophy of education, and early modern philosophy. Recent work examines artificial intelligence and education from a hermeneutic perspective. Currently a Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at King’s College London. Previous research appointments include Goethe University Frankfurt and the University of Münster.