They're usually addressed to groups of people, and they deal with sort of philosophical sounding issues, and they give advice on group problems.

通常是写给一群人的，讨论哲学问题，给团体问题提出一些建议。

耶鲁公开课 - 新约课程节选

I never met anybody who seemed more like an author than this person, and yet he's raising the question whether there is any such thing, or in any case, the question how difficult it is to decide what it is if there is.

我从来没有遇见过比他看起来更像作家的人，现在他提出了一个问题，问无论如何，如果有这么个东西的话那么决定它是什么有多难。

耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选

And I imagine the first person who articulated the question aloud probably met with the response saying, "What a stupid question. Of course things fall down."

我想象第一个人,大声提出这个问题,可能得到这样的回答，多么愚蠢的问题，物体当然下降“

耶鲁公开课 - 心理学导论课程节选