Horn and Camp [Adam Plesser]

1. Hom argues that slurs derive their derogatory force from their meaning, which is defined primarily by institutions in place amongst the speakers of a language. Horn's externalist semantics helps clarify how slurs can change in meaning or degree of offensiveness. 
2. Camp argues that slurs derive derogatory force from context; the force comes from the speaker's implication that they are affirming a certain perspective. Racial slurs, for example, derive derogatory force from their implication that the speaker endorses the hatred of the race in question as a consequence of their race.
3. I prefer Horn's account because it better explains how words can have derogatory force even when we use great care to make clear that we are not endorsing their meaning. The existence of the phrase "the N word" is difficult to account for on Camp's account. She might claim that such a phrase is merely a more convenient way of pointing to the original term, but making clear that the speaker does not endorse its perspective, but this explanation feels too facile; intuition strongly suggests that the phrase does not merely exist for the sake of convenience.