Philosophers' Imprint 19 (2019)
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In this paper, I develop an essentialist model of the semantics of slurs. I defend the view that slurs are a species of kind terms: Slur concepts encode mini-theories which represent an essence-like element that is causally connected to a set of negatively-valenced stereotypical features of a social group. The truth-conditional contribution of slur nouns can then be captured by the following schema: For a given slur S of a social group G and a person P, S is true of P iff P bears the “essence” of G—whatever this essence is—which is causally responsible for stereotypical negative features associated with G and predicted of P. Since there is no essence that is causally responsible for stereotypical negative features of a social group, slurs have null-extension, and consequently, many sentences containing them are either meaningless or false. After giving a detailed outline of my theory, I show that it receives strong linguistic support. In particular, it can account for a wide range of linguistic cases that are regarded as challenging, central data for any theory of slurs. Finally, I show that my theory also receives convergent support from cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics.
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Keywords | slurs essentialism kind terms social stereotypes dehumanization null-extensionality hate speech |
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References found in this work BETA
The Meaning of 'Meaning'.Hillary Putnam - 1975 - Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science 7:131-193.
View all 74 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Slurs, Neutral Counterparts, and What You Could Have Said.Arianna Falbo - 2021 - Analytic Philosophy 62 (4):359-375.
Race, Ideology, and the Communicative Theory of Punishment.Steven Swartzer - 2019 - Philosophers' Imprint 19:1-22.
Psychological Essentialism and the Structure of Concepts.Eleonore Neufeld - 2022 - Philosophy Compass (5):e12823.
Kindhood and Essentialism: Evidence From Language.Katherine Ritchie & Joshua Knobe - 2020 - In Marjorie Rhodes (ed.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior.
Pornography and Dehumanization: The Essentialist Dimension.Eleonore Neufeld - 2020 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 98 (4):703-717.
View all 13 citations / Add more citations
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2019-01-19
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