The Canadian Journal of Philosophy

Distinguished Lecture

"There are no slurs" 

Jason Stanley (Yale)

Tuesday, June 1 / mardi, le 1^er juin 

Congress 2021/Congrès 2021, #47 CPA-ACP 

4.30PM MT / 16h30 (HAR)

In the past two decades, linguists and philosophers have focused on what they have widely regarded as a distinctive linguistic category - slurs. In this talk, joint work with David Beaver, we argue that in an important sense this is mistaken. Many of the so-called distinctive properties of slurs - connections to stereotypes, perspectives, hyper-projectivity - are properties of language generally. Other supposed properties of slurs - their supposedly taboo nature - are explicable on other grounds. In an important sense, there are no slurs. 

Photo by Raphael Schaller on Unsplash