Conservatives and racists: inferential role semantics and pejoratives
Conservatives and racists: inferential role semantics and pejoratives
According to inferential role semantics (IRS), for any given expression to possess a particular meaning one must be disposed to make or, alternatively, acknowledge as correct certain inferential transitions involving it. As Williamson points out, pejoratives such as ‘Boche’ seem to provide a counter-example to IRS. Many speakers are neither disposed to use such expressions nor consider it proper to do so. But it does not follow, as IRS appears to entail, that such speakers do not understand pejoratives or that they lack meaning. In this paper, I examine recent responses to this problem by Boghossian and Brandom and argue that their proposed construal of the kind of inferential rules governing a pejorative such as ‘Boche’ is to be ruled out on the grounds that it is non-conservative. I defend the appeal to conservatism in this instance against criticism and, in doing so, propose an alternative approach to pejoratives on behalf of IRS that resolves the problem Williamson poses.
inferentialism, meaning, pejoratives, language, inferential role semantics
375-388
Whiting, Daniel J.
c0847bb4-963e-470d-92a2-5c8aae5d5aef
September 2008
Whiting, Daniel J.
c0847bb4-963e-470d-92a2-5c8aae5d5aef
Whiting, Daniel J.
(2008)
Conservatives and racists: inferential role semantics and pejoratives.
Philosophia, 36 (3), .
(doi:10.1007/s11406-007-9109-1).
Abstract
According to inferential role semantics (IRS), for any given expression to possess a particular meaning one must be disposed to make or, alternatively, acknowledge as correct certain inferential transitions involving it. As Williamson points out, pejoratives such as ‘Boche’ seem to provide a counter-example to IRS. Many speakers are neither disposed to use such expressions nor consider it proper to do so. But it does not follow, as IRS appears to entail, that such speakers do not understand pejoratives or that they lack meaning. In this paper, I examine recent responses to this problem by Boghossian and Brandom and argue that their proposed construal of the kind of inferential rules governing a pejorative such as ‘Boche’ is to be ruled out on the grounds that it is non-conservative. I defend the appeal to conservatism in this instance against criticism and, in doing so, propose an alternative approach to pejoratives on behalf of IRS that resolves the problem Williamson poses.
Text
Conservatives_and_racists_-_Inferential_Role_Semantics_and_Pejoratives_-_Daniel_Whiting.pdf
- Accepted Manuscript
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Published date: September 2008
Keywords:
inferentialism, meaning, pejoratives, language, inferential role semantics
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 55234
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/55234
ISSN: 0048-3893
PURE UUID: b527a7a8-83c3-4bc0-976d-b3179c70c45c
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Date deposited: 05 Aug 2008
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 10:53
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