A non-ideal approach to slurs

Bibliographic Data

ID10808018
AuthorsDeborah Mühlebach (0000-0002-5720-3437, Freie Universität Berlin, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume202
Issue3
Pages97-97
Publication date2023-09-09
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSynthese (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0039-7857 • E-ISSN: 1573-0964
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s11229-023-04315-y
PMID37701753
OpenAlexW4386571956
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited37

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, so I argue, fall short on some desiderata associated with a non-ideal approach. They neglect crucial linguistic or political aspects of morally and politically significant meaning. I argue that a two-stage project is necessary to understand the perniciousness of slurs: accounting for the derogatory content of derogatory terms in general and, additionally, explaining the communicative function of slurs more specifically. I end by showing how inferentialism is well-suited to account for the content of derogatory terms whilst allowing for further explanations of the communicative functions of slurs

Content (measure theory) · Epistemology · Function (biology) · Ideal (ethics) · Linguistics · Meaning (existential) · Metaphysics · Neglect · Philosophy of language · Philosophy of mind · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Feminist Epistemology and Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Psychology

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