Event Detail

Slurs are not like other parts of language. They don’t achieve their characteristic effects by communicating. Rather, they achieve their characteristic effects by impacting their audience – that is, their use triggers distinctive physical responses. Such responses are not a function of what slurs entail, implicate, or presuppose, and thus the usual linguistic toolbox is not up to the task of explaining how slurs work.

Instead, I suggest that we explain the impact of slurs by reference to social norms. When you see a stranger get punched in the face, your pulse quickens, your muscles tense, your pupils dilate, and you experience some immediate and unpleasant emotions. This is just like what happens when you witness, or are targeted by, a slur. In both cases, we react this way because we are invested in a norm against the relevant action. I outline an account of our investment in anti-slurring norms that explains why the impact of slurring has the contours it does. Then I explain the communicative effects of slurring in terms of these norms, rather than vice versa.