SAMPLE QUESTION SHEETS
I used this site to create the sheets: https://conversationstartersworld.com/philosophical-questions/
QUESTION SHEET 1
CONVERSATION GROUND RULES: suspend judgement, respect one another, seek to understand rather than persuade, go for honesty and depth.
What job would you be terrible at?
When was the last time you climbed a tree?
If you could turn any activity into an Olympic sport, what would you have a good chance at winning medal for?
What is the most annoying habit that other people have?
What job do you think you'd be really good at?
How likely do you think it will be that humans will last another 1,000 years without killing ourselves off?
What do you attribute the biggest successes in your life to? How about your largest failures?
If freedom is simply being able to do what you want, are animals freer than humans?
Is it better for a person to have a broad knowledge base or a deep knowledge base?
Which of your beliefs are justified and which ones aren't?
Is happiness just chemicals flowing through your brain or something more?
QUESTION SHEET 2
CONVERSATION GROUND RULES: suspend judgement, respect one another, seek to understand rather than persuade, go for honesty and depth.
What skill would you like to master?
What would be the most amazing adventure to go on?
If you had unlimited funds to build a house that you would live in for the rest of your life, what would the finished house be like?
What's your favourite drink?
What country do you never want to go back to?
Is suffering a necessary part of the human condition? What would people who never suffered be like?
Does hardship make a person stronger? If so, under what conditions and at what point is it too much hardship? If not, what makes a person stronger?
Would things get better or worse if humans focused on what was going well rather than what's going wrong?
What benefits does art provide society? Does art hurt society in any way?
Is it possible that some animals are self-aware and think about their ability to think?
Are intelligence and happiness tied together in any way? If you are highly intelligent, is it more likely that you'll be more, or less happy?
QUESTION SHEET 3
CONVERSATION GROUND RULES: suspend judgement, respect one another, seek to understand rather than persuade, go for honesty and depth.
What songs or poems have you completely memorized?
What game or movie universe would you most like to live in?
What do you consider to be your best find?
Are you usually early or late?
What pets did you have while you were growing up?
How would humanity change if all humans' life expectancy was significantly increased (let's say to around 500 years)?
Where do you find meaning in your life?
What do you think would be humanity's reaction to the discovery of extraterrestrial life?
Will religion ever become obsolete?
If you could teach everyone in the world one concept, what concept would have the biggest positive impact on humanity?
Assuming evolution is correct, do you think that if humans went extinct another species as intelligent as humans would evolve? If life exists long enough on a planet, is intelligence and consciousness inevitable?
QUESTION SHEET 4
CONVERSATION GROUND RULES: suspend judgement, respect one another, seek to understand rather than persuade, go for honesty and depth.
What do you consider to be your best find?
Are you usually early or late?
What pets did you have while you were growing up?
When people come to you for help, what do they usually want help with?
What takes up too much of your time?
What should be the goal of humanity?
If you could become immortal on the condition you would NEVER be able to die or kill yourself, would you choose immortality?
How will humans as a species go extinct?
What actions in your life will have the longest reaching consequences? How long will those effects be felt?
If a child somehow survived and grew up in the wilderness without any human contact, how "human" would they be without the influence of society and culture?
How much does language affect our thinking?
QUESTION SHEET 5
CONVERSATION GROUND RULES: suspend judgement, respect one another, seek to understand rather than persuade, go for honesty and depth.
What do you wish you knew more about?
What would be your first question after waking up from being cryogenically frozen for 100 years?
What are some small things that make your day better?
Who's your go to band or artist when you can't decide on something to listen to?
Who has impressed you most with what they've accomplished?
If someone you loved was killed in front of you, but someone created a copy of them that was perfect right down to the atomic level, would they be the same person and would you love them just as much?
Does fate exist? If so, do we have free will?
What does it mean to live a good life?
Why do we dream?
Is it possible to live a normal life and not ever tell a lie?
Is it possible that someone's genes might affect their political leanings? If no, why not? If so, what would be the ramifications?
QUESTION SHEET 6
CONVERSATION GROUND RULES: suspend judgement, respect one another, seek to understand rather than persuade, go for honesty and depth.
What age do you wish you could permanently be?
What would be your ideal way to spend the weekend?
What is something that is considered a luxury, but you don't think you could live without?
What's your claim to fame?
What's something you like to do the old-fashioned way?
What harsh truths do you prefer to ignore?
Is free will real or just an illusion?
Is there a meaning to life? If so, what is it?
Is the meaning of life the same for animals and humans?
Where is the line between art and not art?
Would selectively breeding an animal such as a dog based on intelligence, increase its intelligence over time? If so, how intelligent could dogs become? If not, how does intelligence emerge in a species?
QUESTION SHEET 7
CONVERSATION GROUND RULES: suspend judgement, respect one another, seek to understand rather than persuade, go for honesty and depth.
If you didn't have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?
What's your favourite piece of clothing you own / owned?
What hobby would you get into if time and money weren't an issue?
What would your perfect room look like?
What fictional place would you most like to go?
Is it more important to help yourself, help your family, help your society, or help the world?
What life-altering things should every human ideally get to experience at least once in their lives?
What is the most important goal every person should have?
Is it better to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?
By what standards do you judge yourself?
If there existed a perfect clone of you, would it also be you? Would it act in exactly the same manner as you (like a mirror) or would it act differently? If it acted differently then would it still be you? At what point would it not be you?
Some other questions that have been used...
What are you most grateful for?
Is there a motto you live by? What is it?
What makes you laugh?
What words of wisdom would you impart to someone younger who is setting out in life?