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Originally Posted by looking glass spectacle
but didn't the controversy caused by Alan Sokal's quantum gravity hoax essentially revolve around the question "is that really physics?"?
(i'm assuming that asking a question about a question requires two question marks, but i'm open to suggestions on that...)
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I don't think the Sokal affair revolved around 'is that really physics?' so much as it did revolve around the question of verifying science's metonymical use outside of strictly scientific disciplines; I generally feel that Sokal was calling foul play on other people's trust. The reading group I'm in are covering the Sokal affair at our next meeting, and I've a feeling I'm going to chat a lot about Feyerabend and Sokal's breach of academic trust.
Regarding your grammatical question - I understand that if the parenthesis or quotation ends with a question mark, there's no need for the closing grammatical affect in the dominant clause. Which is to say, in the above, the question mark in the quotation sufficed, no need for another one.
I'm no expert in these matters though.