Week 10: Reflection [Rigo Acevedo]

(A) The current topic that we've been discussing relating to slurs and their unusual expressive content has been the most interesting to me. The idea that slurs portray some additional content that appears to scope out and cause offense regardless of the speakers intentions is not knew to me, but I've never considered what properties of slurs might be responsible for this phenomena. I like the idea that slurs have obtained their expressive force through external influences, such as prejudicial institutions or prohibition by a particular group of whom the slur refers. However, what I think is most interesting about these theories is that their structure allows for a potential scientific investigation; a group of brave proprietors of thick semantic externalism may be able to establish an institution of prejudice, against a group of their choosing, with accompanying slurring terms, and see if such a practice is capable of imbuing the chosen terms with additional expressive force.