Evading Hypothetical Questions

There seems to be a growing tendency among politicians and some others to refuse to answer direct and difficult questions based upon the argument that they are only “hypothetical.” Because they don’t describe an actual and current situation, they somehow don’t merit an answer. But is that a reasonable position to take?

Julian Baggini argues that it isn’t:

Nigel Warburton, in his Thinking From A to Z , dubbed this the “politician's answer”, with good reason. It has become a favoured tool of evasion for politicians the world over, who often bat away queries saying, “that's a hypothetical question”. However, look for a justification for the assumption that only questions about what is actual need to be answered and you'll search in vain. Indeed, it is ironic that politicians are so keen to avoid hypothetical questions when their entire campaigns are run on the basis of hypotheticals: if you elect me, I'll do this. If they truly believed that they shouldn't answer hypothetical questions, then they should refrain from saying anything about what they would do if they gained power.

There are good reasons why it is sometimes unwise to answer hypothetical questions. One is that it is often not worth worrying about all the possible things that might happen. ... Another is that circumstances change, and it can be unwise to commit yourself to a future course of action when unforeseen events may change the calculations about what the best course of action is.

Although there are cases where a hypothetical can be dismissed, it is never true that a hypothetical questions can be dismissed only because it is hypothetical. Dismissal can only come because, for example, the chances of it happening are too small to be worth studying or the situation is changing too fast to take even all the likely candidates into consideration. When you do see someone dismissing a question because it is hypothetical, there is a good chance that they are just trying to avoid dealing with a difficult situation and hoping no one will notice.

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