An academic question has no practical value and refers to an uncommon or impossible circumstance. It can be used to dismiss a point as unrealistic or irrelevant, or refer to a question that has been rendered useless by the situation. “A moot point” has a related meaning.
The term “academic question” is an English expression for a question whose answer has no practical value. While the answer to an academic question may be interesting, it usually refers to an uncommon or even impossible circumstance. This concept is commonly expressed through the phrase “the question is academic,” which dismisses a point as unrealistic or irrelevant.
To be an academic question, a question must be about something unimportant or just plain false. For example, a lawyer might say “I’m not sure it’s fair to hang someone for stealing a loaf of bread, but since my client didn’t steal that loaf of bread in the first place, the question is academic.” The implication here is that while the question of proportionality in punishment is an interesting one, it is not relevant to the ongoing debate.
The above example illustrates a common rhetorical strategy involving the academic question. The speaker is acknowledging a point – in this case, the idea that punishments for crimes are sometimes disproportionate – before quickly dismissing it as irrelevant. This can often be used to make a quick point against an opponent before returning to the thread of the discussion, effectively preventing the opponent from countering the point.
An academic question can also refer to a question that, however important, has been rendered useless by the situation. “I can’t decide whether I want a ham sandwich or a turkey sandwich,” one speaker might comment, to which another might reply: “That’s an academic question, since we have no bread.” In this case, the issue is neither inherently irrelevant nor outside the scope of discussion. Specific circumstances, however, made answering the question irrelevant. Whatever sandwich filling the speaker decides on, the result is the same, because he really can’t do either.
The expression “a moot point” has a related meaning. It refers to a point which may be valid in itself, but which, due to the circumstances, is not important. In legal terms, a matter is moot if it can have no legal effect, but the expression is often used casually to mean much the same thing as “academic matter.” For example, someone examining a house might remark “I don’t think this building would do very well in a tornado, but as there really aren’t tornadoes here in Wales, it’s a moot point.”
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