On Insults

Daly, Helen L.

doi:10.1017/apa.2018.29

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(13 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…G. E. M. Anscombe and J. L. Austin, have claimed that it is insulting or mortifying not to be taken at one's word (Anscombe 1979: 150; Austin 1961: 68). Refusing someone's testimony, by not taking her at her word, would – at least sometimes – be insulting because it exhibits a lack of due regard for someone's interests, status or concern (Daly 2018). It tends to diminish its target and lower him or her in social status 13 .…”

Section: Testimonial Exchanges and Reactive Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Gift of Testimony

Tanesini

2020

Episteme

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper I argue that in Western contemporary societies testimony is structured by norms of reciprocation and thus is best understood as involving the exchange of gifts rather than, as philosophers and game theorists have tended to presume, market transactions. My argument is based on an initial analysis of the reactive attitudes that are exhibited in testimonial exchanges. I highlight the central role played by the reciprocating attitudes of gratitude and gratification respectively in the recipient and the donor of testimony. This analysis leads to an account of the speech act of telling that is the primary vehicle of testimony. Telling, I argue, is a commissive but it is not, as it is usually presumed, akin to promising. Instead, its nature is that of an offer of a gift. Finally, I develop an account of the norms of trust and trustfulness as reciprocating social norms. I show that adopting these norms provides a particularly effective solution of the problem of cooperation. The solution is particularly effective because it incentivises both the sharing of epistemic goods and the acquisition of further such goods so that one is able to share them.

show abstract

Section: Testimonial Exchanges and Reactive Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Gift of Testimony

Tanesini

2020

Episteme

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…SeePopa-Wyatt and Wyatt (2018) for an account of slurs that incorporates dominant and submissive social roles.25 For recent accounts of pejoratives, seeHom (2010),Sennet and Copp (2015), andMarques and García-Carpintero (2020).26 This will depend partly on one's view of insults. See, e.g.,Daly (2018) for a view of insults as expressions of lack of due regard. 27 Thanks to a helpful referee for drawing attention to this similarity.28 For a good discussion of scalar implicature and related phenomena, seeRett (2020).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biased Evaluative Descriptions

Bernstein¹

2023

J. of the Am. Philos. Assoc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this essay I identify a type of linguistic phenomenon new to feminist philosophy of language: biased evaluative descriptions. Biased evaluative descriptions are descriptions whose well-intended positive surface meanings are inflected with implicitly biased content. Biased evaluative descriptions are characterized by three main features: (1) they have roots in implicit bias or benevolent sexism, (2) their application is counterfactually unstable across dominant and subordinate social groups, and (3) they encode stereotypes. After giving several different kinds of examples of biased evaluative descriptions, I distinguish them from similar linguistic concepts, including backhanded compliments, slurs, insults, epithets, pejoratives, and dog whistles. I suggest that the traditional framework of Gricean implicature cannot account for biased evaluative descriptions. I discuss some challenges to the distinctiveness and evaluability of biased evaluative descriptions, including intersectional social identities. I conclude by discussing their social significance and moral status. Identifying biased evaluative descriptions is important for a variety of social contexts, from the very general and broad (political speeches) to the very particular and small (bias in academic hiring).

show abstract

Mark Twain’s Western Rhetoric of Insults

Fredericks

2022

The Mark Twain Annual

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mark Twain’s early literary experimentation in the West gave rise to his most recognizable narrative voices, tropes, and techniques—including expressions of anger. These newspaper endeavors featured and were fundamentally shaped by invective, especially the insult, a robust and flexible form of verbal abuse. Twain used insults to establish his literary superiority, demonstrate or reinforce his various group identities, and contest his place within social and professional in-group hierarchies. This article constructs a framework for Twain’s rhetoric of insults in his western newspaper contributions prior to his 1866 trip to the Hawaiian Islands, focusing on insults in three contexts: the rivalry, the hoax, and the honor contest. It analyzes the multiple rhetorical dimensions of Twain’s varied forms of mock and malicious insults (including vehicle, intensity, and invective loci) and traces the social bonds created or affected by his insults.

show abstract

On Insults

Cited by 3 publications

References 13 publications

The Gift of Testimony

The Gift of Testimony

Biased Evaluative Descriptions

Mark Twain’s Western Rhetoric of Insults

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About