Philosophy and Gender (Level 7, 30 credits)
Overview
- Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
- Convenor: Prof Jennifer Hornsby
- Assessment: a 1500-word essay (15%) and 3700-word essay (85%)
Module description
In the first part of the module, Words and Social Power, we discuss how using certain words is to the detriment of members of particular social groups. How should we think of language's workings in order to accommodate this? We will bring philosophy of language to bear on a range of questions about 'silenced' speakers, sexist language, 'slur words' and hate speech. We will then connect ideas of disempowered speech with ideas of injustice and look further at so-called speech act theory, and consider ways in which speech act notions have been introduced into a debate about pornography. Sexist language based on a close study of the various themes in Mercier's paper will then be considered.
We will discuss how we think about individual words that give offence, and what account a philosopher of language should give of such words. Questions about change of meaning and 'reclamation' will also be considered. We will then think about the bearing of the idea of speech acts as communicative on debates about free speech.
The second part of the module, Socialising Epistemology, discusses the following questions:
- How do relations of power and social identity relate to epistemic authority in discursive exchange?
- What are stereotypes, and are they necessarily bad?
- What is objectification, and under what circumstances is it ethically bad?
- How do relations of power and social identity influence our shared tools and habits for interpreting social experience?
- How may powerfulness relate to ignorance?