Hey Guys,

"This involves not only the question of what the field should look like, but also THAT OF whether it has any reason to exist at all."

In this sentence, what does "THAT OF" means? I capitalized it to make it easier to see.

Thanks in advance.

Question

Hey Guys,

"This involves not only the question of what the field should look like, but also THAT OF whether it has any reason to exist at all."

In this sentence, what does "THAT OF" means? I capitalized it to make it easier to see.

Thanks in advance.

Answer

In the given sentence, "THAT OF" means "the question of."

So the sentence can be rephrased as "This involves not only the question of what the field should look like but also the question of whether it has any reason to exist at all."

Answer

"...that of..." - represents the question. ' Not only the question of [blank] but also that (the question) of... ' "That" refers to the other question alluded to.

Answer

"That of" in this sentence is used to avoid repeating "the question of"

Compare..."This involves not only the question of what the field should look like, but also the question of whether it has any reason to exist at all."

I hope this helps!