Deborah Mühlebach
Biographic Data
| ID | 5995607 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Deborah Mühlebach |
| GIVEN NAMES | Deborah |
| FAMILY NAME | Mühlebach |
| SIGNATURE | MÜHLEBACH D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Institute of Philosophy, Free University Berlin Berlin Germany |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5720-3437 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 7 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Precarious agency
How do we overcome the agency dilemma, that is, account for the fact that power relations heavily affect our agency without neglecting the many ways in which oppressed people act meaningfully? This article offers a solution by paying special attention to socially complex uptake in a framework of communities of practice. In order to explain the role of uptake in agency, I build on the notion of uptake provided by speech act theory. I show that if …
Non-ideal philosophy of language
Recently, there has been growing interest in methodological issues of non-ideal theoretical philosophy. While some explicitly commit to non-ideal theorising, others doubt that there is anything useful about the ideal/non-ideal distinction in theoretical philosophy. The aim of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, I propose a way of doing non-ideal theoretical philosophy, once we realise how limited certain idealised projects are. Since there is…
Meaning in derogatory social practices
Verbal derogation is not only a linguistic but also, and perhaps more importantly, a political phenomenon. In this paper, I argue that to do justice to the political relevance of derogatory terms, we must not neglect the social practices and structures in which the use of these terms is embedded. I aim to show that inferentialist semantics is especially helpful to account for this social embeddedness and, consequently, the political relevance of …
A non-ideal approach to slurs
Philosophers of language are increasingly engaging with derogatory terms or slurs. Only few theorists take such language as a starting point for addressing puzzles in philosophy of language with little connection to our real-world problems. This paper aims to show that the political nature of derogatory language use calls for non-ideal theorising as we find it in the work of feminist and critical race scholars. Most contemporary theories of slurs…
Neopragmatist Inferentialism and Derogatory Terms
Inferentialism seems to be an unpopular theory where derogatory terms are concerned. Contrary to most theorists in the debate on the meaning of derogatory terms, I think that inferentialism constitutes a promising theory to account for a broad range of aspects of derogatory language use. In order to make good on that promise, however, inferentialism must overcome four main objections that are usually raised against Michael Dummett’s and Robert Br…
Reflective Equilibrium as an Ameliorative Framework for Feminist Epistemology
As Helen Longino's overview of Hypatia 's engagement with feminist epistemology suggests, the last twenty‐five years’ contributions to this field reveal a strong focus on the topic of knowledge. In her short outline, Longino questions this narrow focus on knowledge in epistemological inquiry. The main purpose of this article is to provide a framework for systematically taking up the questions raised by Longino, one that prevents us from running t…
Enhancing Argumentative Skills in Environmental Science Education
Dealing with complex problems often requires advanced argumentative skills. We sketch how to reconstruct and evaluate arguments and outline how fostering argumentative skills is implemented in the Environmental Sciences curriculum at the Department of Environmental Systems Sciences (D-USYS)of ETH Zurich
Reflective Equilibrium as an Ameliorative Framework for Feminist Epistemology
As Helen Longino's overview of Hypatia 's engagement with feminist epistemology suggests, the last twenty‐five years’ contributions to this field reveal a strong focus on the topic of knowledge. In her short outline, Longino questions this narrow focus on knowledge in epistemological inquiry. The main purpose of this article is to provide a framework for systematically taking up the questions raised by Longino, one that prevents us from running t…
Enhancing Argumentative Skills in Environmental Science Education
Dealing with complex problems often requires advanced argumentative skills. We sketch how to reconstruct and evaluate arguments and outline how fostering argumentative skills is implemented in the Environmental Sciences curriculum at the Department of Environmental Systems Sciences (D-USYS)of ETH Zurich
Reflective Equilibrium as an Ameliorative Framework for Feminist Epistemology
As Helen Longino's overview of Hypatia 's engagement with feminist epistemology suggests, the last twenty‐five years’ contributions to this field reveal a strong focus on the topic of knowledge. In her short outline, Longino questions this narrow focus on knowledge in epistemological inquiry. The main purpose of this article is to provide a framework for systematically taking up the questions raised by Longino, one that prevents us from running t…
Neopragmatist Inferentialism and Derogatory Terms
Inferentialism seems to be an unpopular theory where derogatory terms are concerned. Contrary to most theorists in the debate on the meaning of derogatory terms, I think that inferentialism constitutes a promising theory to account for a broad range of aspects of derogatory language use. In order to make good on that promise, however, inferentialism must overcome four main objections that are usually raised against Michael Dummett’s and Robert Br…
Meaning in derogatory social practices
Verbal derogation is not only a linguistic but also, and perhaps more importantly, a political phenomenon. In this paper, I argue that to do justice to the political relevance of derogatory terms, we must not neglect the social practices and structures in which the use of these terms is embedded. I aim to show that inferentialist semantics is especially helpful to account for this social embeddedness and, consequently, the political relevance of …
A non-ideal approach to slurs
Philosophers of language are increasingly engaging with derogatory terms or slurs. Only few theorists take such language as a starting point for addressing puzzles in philosophy of language with little connection to our real-world problems. This paper aims to show that the political nature of derogatory language use calls for non-ideal theorising as we find it in the work of feminist and critical race scholars. Most contemporary theories of slurs…
Non-ideal philosophy of language
Recently, there has been growing interest in methodological issues of non-ideal theoretical philosophy. While some explicitly commit to non-ideal theorising, others doubt that there is anything useful about the ideal/non-ideal distinction in theoretical philosophy. The aim of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, I propose a way of doing non-ideal theoretical philosophy, once we realise how limited certain idealised projects are. Since there is…
Precarious agency
How do we overcome the agency dilemma, that is, account for the fact that power relations heavily affect our agency without neglecting the many ways in which oppressed people act meaningfully? This article offers a solution by paying special attention to socially complex uptake in a framework of communities of practice. In order to explain the role of uptake in agency, I build on the notion of uptake provided by speech act theory. I show that if …
Epistemology (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics (4 works) · Meaning (existential) (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Feminist Epistemology and Gender Studies (3 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (3 works) · Political science (3 works) · Ideal (ethics) (2 works)