Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP)

Applied philosophy of language is a relatively new research area. Roughly speaking, applied philosophy of language applies methods and insights from (pure) philosophy of language on real-life problems. The aim of this seminar is to introduce the students to this research area by reading selected papers generally referred to as applied philosophy of language. The topics covered are, among others: the semantics and pragmatics of slurs and insults, hate speech and freedom of expression, feminism and speech act theory, lying vs. misleading, and the language of political speech. In so doing, we will read, among others, papers by Timothy Williamson (Reference, Inference and the Semantics of Pejoratives), Luvell Anderson and Ernie Lepore (Slurring Words), Caroline West (Freedom of Expression and Derogatory Words), Mary Kate McGowan, Rae Langton (Speech Acts and Unspeakable Acts), Jennifer Saul (Lying, Misleading and What is Said), and Jason Stanley (How Propaganda Works). The students will read the papers in advance of each seminar session. The seminar sessions themselves will be used to help the students in understanding the papers and for their critical discussion. There will also be the possibility to give small presentations on a paper of one's choice.