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3Racial RealitiesRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 95 15-31. 2024.How should we conceive of conflicts that seem intractable? Is there any hope of a resolution? We observe impasses between various groups concerning the Israeli and Palestinian conflict, the Movement for Black Lives and racial conservatives, and Indigenous voices versus settler colonial states. Some aspects of these impasses can surely be explained by an unwillingness by one or more parties to the conflict to yield any ground. Might there also be room for misunderstanding generated by radically d…Read more
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2Calling, Addressing, and AppropriationIn David Sosa (ed.), Bad Words, Oxford University Press. 2018.What explains the difference in black and non-black use of the n-word? In the mouths of black speakers the n-word can take on friendly, or at least benign significance. This chapter will be concerned with providing an explanation. First, it will present three accounts—i.e., the Ambiguity thesis, an Expressivist account, and an Echoic account, ultimately arguing that none of them is satisfactory. Next, it introduces the concepts of a speech community and a community of practice and explicates the…Read more
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10The Oxford Handbook of Applied Philosophy of Language (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2024.This Handbook represents a collective exploration of the emerging field of applied philosophy of language. The volume covers a broad range of areas where philosophy engages with linguistic aspects of our social world, including such hot topics as dehumanizing speech, dogwhistles, taboo language, pornography, appropriation, implicit bias, speech acts, and the ethics of communication. An international line-up of contributors adopt a variety of approaches and methods in their investigation of these…Read more
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27Why so serious? An inquiry on racist jokesJournal of Social Philosophy 54 (3): 370-384. 2020.Journal of Social Philosophy, EarlyView.
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49Why so serious? An inquiry on racist jokesJournal of Social Philosophy 54 (3): 370-384. 2020.Journal of Social Philosophy, EarlyView.
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56Sneering SatireAristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 96 (1): 269-288. 2022.In ‘“Sneering, or Other Social Pelting”’, Lucy O’Brien understands sneering acts as ways of making feel that are aimed at socially downgrading a target. Sneers are essentially expressions of contempt. Although typically thought of as vicious, O’Brien argues they can also be used virtuously to disrupt social hierarchies, especially when taken up by people with low social status. I examine satire as a potentially effective means of carrying out this virtuous activity. I examine O’Brien’s account w…Read more
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218Hate SpeechStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2022.Hate speech is a concept that many people find intuitively easy to grasp, while at the same time many others deny it is even a coherent concept. A majority of developed, democratic nations have enacted hate speech legislation—with the contemporary United States being a notable outlier—and so implicitly maintain that it is coherent, and that its conceptual lines can be drawn distinctly enough. Nonetheless, the concept of hate speech does indeed raise many difficult questions: What does the ‘hate’…Read more
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43Roasting EthicsJournal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 78 (4): 451-464. 2020.ABSTRACTWhat are the rules of the comedic roast? Initially, there might seem to be a tension between “the comedic” and “roasting” or “insult.” The comedic is concerned with the funny or mirth while insults are mean-spirited in nature, tools of injury. So how can the two be combined to produce something fun? In this article, I entertain a few views that attempt a resolution of this apparent tension. I conclude with a proposal that suggests when they are successful, roasts employ mechanisms that r…Read more
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141Why so serious? An inquiry on racist jokesJournal of Social Philosophy 54 (3): 370-384. 2020.Journal of Social Philosophy, EarlyView.
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41Editor’s Introduction: Language, Power, and SocietySouthern Journal of Philosophy 56 (S1): 5-6. 2018.
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26Black is Beautiful: A Philosophy of Black Aesthetics (review)The Philosophers' Magazine 81 110-111. 2018.
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13The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Race (edited book)Routledge. 2017.For many decades, race and racicsm have been common areas of study in departments of sociology, history, politcal science, English, and athropology. Much more recently, as the historical concept of race and racial categories have faced signifcant scientific and politcal challenges, philosophers have become more interested in these areas. This changing understanding of the ontology of race has invited inquiry from researchers in moral philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, …Read more
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239Hermeneutical ImpassesPhilosophical Topics 45 (2): 1-19. 2017.When people respond to chants of “Black lives matter” with “All lives matter” or excoriate Colin Kaepernick for being “anti-military” or “anti-American” when he sits or kneels during the playing of the national anthem, there appears to be a break in understanding. BLM protestors and Kaepernick understand their actions and messages in one way, detractors in quite a different way. This presents an interpretive challenge. In this essay, I aim to explore the nature of this interpretive challenge by …Read more
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86We 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 th…Read more
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721Racist HumorPhilosophy Compass 10 (8): 501-509. 2015.In this brief essay, I will lay out the philosophical landscape concerning theories of racist humor. First, I mention some preliminary issues that bear on the question of what makes a joke racist. Next, I briefly survey some of the views philosophers have offered on racist humor, and on a view of sexist humor that is relevant for this discussion. I then suggest the debates could benefit from moving beyond the racist/non-racist binary most views presuppose. Finally, I conclude with suggestions fo…Read more
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662Language and RaceIn Gillian Russell Delia Graff Fara (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Language, Routledge. pp. 753-767. 2012.What is the point of language? If we begin with that abstract question, we may be tempted towards a high-minded answer: “People say things to get other people to come to know things that they didn't know before” (Stalnaker, 2002, 703). The point is truth, knowledge, communication. If we begin with a concrete question, “What has language to do with race?” we find a different point: to attack, spread hatred, create racial hierarchy. The mere practice of racial categorization is controversial: are …Read more
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30The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Race (edited book)Routledge. 2017.For many decades, race and racism have been common areas of study in departments of sociology, history, political science, English, and anthropology. Much more recently, as the historical concept of race and racial categories have faced significant scientific and political challenges, philosophers have become more interested in these areas. This changing understanding of the ontology of race has invited inquiry from researchers in moral philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of scienc…Read more
Urbana and Champaign, Illinois, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Language |
Philosophy of Gender, Race, and Sexuality |
Humour |