ABOUT US
This project reflects recent interest in slurs, stereotype threat, microaggressions, and the contribution that each of these makes to social oppression and the epistemologies that support it. Part applied philosophy of language, part social philosophy, part cognitive science — this site will seek to provide an expansive system of resources and discourse on issues related to slurs and stereotypes and the impact they have on their victims.
At the center of this project will be an interdisciplinary, systematic analysis of stereotypes and slurs in their particularity. Recent moves in the philosophy of language endeavor to understand slurs as a simple subspecies of "pejorative" (alongside swear words and "insults"). This view would make understanding their significance a matter of applying the right algorithm. We contend that this level of abstraction will fail to give useful accounts of slurs in they specific context. The approach taken here, by contrast will endeavor to understand slurs as revealed most clearly when analyzed within their specific social contexts. Only in context, can hard questions be answered about the harms of slurs — historically and currently — and the moral standing of their use.
We will also explore the connection between slurs and stereotypes …
We are a group of undergraduate students and faculty in multiple disciplines at multiple universities. We are thankful for financial and other support we've received from the University of Minnesota Duluth, The Unviersity of Wisconsin Collleges
At the center of this project will be an interdisciplinary, systematic analysis of stereotypes and slurs in their particularity. Recent moves in the philosophy of language endeavor to understand slurs as a simple subspecies of "pejorative" (alongside swear words and "insults"). This view would make understanding their significance a matter of applying the right algorithm. We contend that this level of abstraction will fail to give useful accounts of slurs in they specific context. The approach taken here, by contrast will endeavor to understand slurs as revealed most clearly when analyzed within their specific social contexts. Only in context, can hard questions be answered about the harms of slurs — historically and currently — and the moral standing of their use.
We will also explore the connection between slurs and stereotypes …
We are a group of undergraduate students and faculty in multiple disciplines at multiple universities. We are thankful for financial and other support we've received from the University of Minnesota Duluth, The Unviersity of Wisconsin Collleges