Department of Philosophy Presents: Amanda McMullen

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Amanda McMullen, assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy.

Amanda McMullen, assistant professor of philosophy, will give a lecture on "Predications of Ethnic and Nationality Terms as Acts of Definition" from 4-6 p.m. Friday, April 21, at Gearhart Auditorium.

People tend not to use utterances like "He's a Pole" to describe a subject's nationality or ethnic backgrotmd. Instead, they favor "He's Polish," "He's a Polish person," or "He's from Poland."

"Yet, each utterance conveys the same information," said McMullen. "I call this phenomenon "relative preference."

"What is it about an utterance in which a speaker predicates an ethnic or nationality noun to a singular subject such that the speaker prefers virtually any other construction to it? My answver is that by default the speaker performs a reasonably offensive act, "definition," in which they convey that the subject's 1nembership in the relevant origin-based group is their most significant feature," she said. "One could reasonably object to representing the subject in this way on numerous bases, the clearest of which include de-individualization and fungibility with other group-members."

Reasonable offense is magnified in the absence of indicators that the subject endorses such a characterization. As for the mechanics of definition, Gricean generalized conversational implicature best explains the salient data including the defeasibility of the defining content, the unusual circumstances of its cancelation, its detachability, and its calculability. Various rival analyses, including the view· on which a speaker imputes an essence to the subject, are unable to explain these and other pertinent data. 

All are welcome, and if you have any questions feel free to reach out to phildept@uark.edu.