RUcore Resource Object
RUcore Resource Object
PDF-1(1.65 MB)
TitleCommunicating offense
NameAnderson, Luvell E. (author), McGary, Howard (chair), Lepore, Ernie (internal member), Kivy, Peter (internal member), Maitra, Ishani (internal member), Appiah, Kwame Anthony (outside member), Rutgers University, Graduate School - New Brunswick,
Degree Date2011-10
Date Created2011
SubjectPhilosophy,
Racism in language,
Language and ethics
DescriptionWe encounter offense through various media: an intended facetious remark, a protester’s photographic image of an aborted fetus, an epithet, a stereotypical joke of a minority racial group. People say things that cause offense all of the time. And causing offense can have serious consequences, both personal and professional; the offending party is subject to termination, suspension, or social isolation and public opprobrium. Since the stakes are so high we should have a better understanding of the mechanisms of offense involved in these media and how they work. In this dissertation I focus on two mechanisms for communicating offense—i.e. racial and ethnic slurs and racial humor. First, I lay out a few distinctions concerning the particular kind of offense being targeted, objective versus subjective offense, and when state involvement might be appropriate for penalizing offensive behavior. Next, I discuss racial slurs and the conditions of their offensiveness. I offer a non-content based view of slurs’ offense, which contradicts the consensus view held by most philosophers of language and linguists working on this issue. Also, I look more closely at a purportedly non-offensive use of slurring language, so-called linguistic appropriation, and determine that appropriated uses are permissible in certain settings only under certain conditions. And finally, I propose a tri-partite analysis of racial jokes that provides conditions for when they are merely racial, racially insensitive, or racist.
NotePh. D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
NoteIncludes vita
Noteby Luvell E. Anderson Jr.
Genretheses
Persistent URLhttp://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000063326
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.