Reflections [Henry Tran]

The unit of this course that made me think differently was the most recent one about slurs. It also seemed to me the most interesting due to the nature of current usages related to past circumstances. Such that some words originally were designated as something mediocre and then turned into a slur. Originally, I don't believe that I thought much about the usages of slurs and the way they function in our current society. I just essentially thought that people used slurs in two ways, to joke and to insult, not realizing the philosophy behind it. Such as Hornby's gesturalism, Hom's 'thick' semantic externalism, Camp's Perspectivalism, or even Prohibitionism by Anderson & Lepore. Looking at all these views, I see that there are many ways to grasp language, not just at face value. To me now, I see context as a close relation to slurs, such that there might be some perspective, expression or some gesture attributed to the words that slur. I'll think twice when someone utters something derogatory and/or pejorative.