In one sense, being rational lies in questioning and answering to the extent one is calling for an account from the other and able to explain why s/he is doing so by way of responding to the other. As such, answerability is core to this rationality, if only in the sense that to answer a question requires knowing first what would qualify as an answer.
In case it needs saying, such interchanges are conventionalized and need not be vocal or written:
Seldom a simple gesture because of the depth of information it carries and the amount of work it does, the handshake needs to be read as a scripted, sequentially-structured ritual that transforms the proffering of a hand into a request for access and the hand’s reception into the granting of the request. (accessed online at https://academic.oup.com/past/article/267/1/48/7716082)
Convention also includes: “Whose asking?” shot back philosopher, Sidney Morgenbesser, when pressed to prove the existence of his questioner.
WHEN COMPLEX IS AS SIMPLE AS IT GETS 
2 thoughts on “Conventional rationality as the willingness and ability to ask and answer questions”