Abstract
Slurs have been standardly assumed to bear a very direct, very distinctive semantic relationship to what philosophers have called “neutral counterpart” terms. I argue that this is mistaken: the general relationship between paradigmatic slurs and their “neutral counterparts” should be assumed to be the same one that obtains between ‘chick flick’ and ‘romantic comedy’, as well a huge number of other more prosaic pairs of derogatory and “less derogatory” expressions. The most plausible general relationship between these latter expressions — and thus, I argue, between paradigmatic slurs and “neutral counterpart” terms — is one of overlap in presumed extension, grounded in overlap in associated stereotypes. The resulting framework has the advantages of being simple, unified, and, unlike its orthodox rivals, neatly accommodating of a much wider range of data than has previously been considered. More importantly, it positions us to better understand, identify, and confront the insidious mechanisms of ordinary bigotry.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 42 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1187-1242 |
| Number of pages | 56 |
| Journal | Ergo an Open Access Journal of Philosophy |
| Volume | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Feb 2024 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Acknowledgments:Versions of this paper were presented at Robin Jeshion’s “Slurs” seminar at University of Southern California, GAP.10, Cognitive Structures 2018 at Heinrich Heine University, The Mid-Atlantic Philosophy of Language (MAPL) Workshop at West Virginia University, Nikki Ernst’s Words Workshop, the USC Philosophy Speculative Society, and Mark Schroeder’s advisee workshop. I would like to thank the audiences, whose questions, suggestions, linguistic intuitions, and proffered examples greatly shaped the paper over the years, as well as the various organizers. For their contributions to the present version, I am grateful to the editors of Ergo, two anonymous reviewers, and copyeditor Robert Mason. Finally, I would like to thank Dan Pallies, Liam Bright, Jonathan Ichikawa, Christa Peterson, Andrew Stewart, John Hawthorne, Steve Finley, Alexis Wellwood, Carol Foster, and Melissa Head for their continued feedback and encouragement. To Mark Schroeder and Robin Jeshion I am indebted most of all.
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