What is inquiry-based thinking?

Inquiry-based thinking is a concept in personal epistemology: A well-formed question is as valuable an atom as a well-formed answer.

Example: You read a paper on decision-making under uncertainty. Instead of highlighting three sentences, you write one question: 'Under what conditions does gathering more information actually reduce decision quality?' That question sits in your knowledge system for weeks. Then a colleague mentions analysis paralysis in a meeting, and the question fires — connecting two domains you never would have linked if you'd only stored the highlight.

This concept is part of Phase 2 (Atomicity and Decomposition) in the How to Think curriculum, which builds the epistemic infrastructure for atomicity and decomposition.