Philosophy of Culture, Language, & Society
San Francisco State University
Spring 2015
PHIL 702.01
Wednesdays 7pm-9:45pm Location: Humanities building 374 |
Course description
This course explores political and moral aspects of language use. Through the discussion and critical analysis of academic papers and non-academic materials, we will inquire into how speech and silence are related to moral wrongness, harm, liberty, resistance and social justice. This is a seminar course. Students are required to read the assigned readings thoroughly and come to class with questions. The more students engage with the materials, the more productive the course will be.
Course evaluation
Presentation in class: 27%
2 Handouts: 2 x 10%: 20%
Weekly questions (pass/fail on each question out of 13): 13%
Written assignment (critical response to one of the readings): 40%
Presentation in class: each student must choose one of the readings from the syllabus and make a presentation in class. The presentation should explain the argument and the conclusion of the reading and, ideally, include critical comments. Length: 45 minutes. Sign up for your presentation online.
Handouts: students are expected to select 2 readings and develop 1 handout for each reading (2 total). The handout must summarize the argument of the reading. Ideally, it will also connect it with other readings, and/or include (brief) critical comments. Handouts will be graded on a 0-1-2 scale (0: non-existent or poor; 1: good; 2: very good). Handout length: up to one two-sided page. Format: be creative!
Weekly questions: each week students are expected to bring to class a question on one of the assigned readings (in writing), and raise it in class. These questions will be evaluated on a 0-1 scale (0: non-existent or irrelevant for the reading; 1: relevant).
Paper response (written assignment): each student will write a critical response to one of the readings. It cannot be a mere summary of the paper, or a statement of a personal opinion that does not explicitly engage with the paper’s argument. A good paper response will contain both an accurate summary of the paper’s argument, and a critical analysis of some part of that argument. Maximum length: 1500 words.
Course schedule
Week 1
Course overview
Week 2
Austin, John. 1962. How To Do Things With Words.
Langton, Rae. 1993. Speech Acts and Unspeakable Acts.
Week 3
Hornsby, Jennifer & Rae Langton. 1998. Free Speech & Illocution.
Jacobson, Daniel. 1995. Freedom of Speech Acts? A Response to Langton.
Langton, Rae. 2012. Beyond Belief: Pragmatics in Hate Speech and Pornography.
Week 4
Maitra, Ishani. 2009. Silencing Speech.
Saul, Jennifer M. 2006. Pornography, Speech Acts & Context.
Optional: Maitra, Ishani & Mary Kate McGowan. 2010. On Silencing, Rape and Responsibility.
Week 5
Maitra, Ishani. 2012. Subordinating Speech.
McGowan, Mary K. 2004. Conversational Exercitives: Something Else We Do With Our Words.
Optional: Langton, Rae & Caroline West. 1999. Scorekeeping In A Pornographic Language Game.
Lewis, David. 1979. Scorekeeping in a Language Game.
Week 6 Deadline for Handout #1
McGowan, Mary K. 2009. Oppressive Speech.
Simpson, Robert M. 2012. Un-Ringing the Bell: McGowan On Oppressive Speech and The Asymmetric Pliability of Conversations.
Week 7
Langton, Rae. 2014. The Authority of Hate Speech.
Langton, Rae. 2007. Disenfranchised Silence.
Optional: Ayala, Saray & Nadya Vasilyeva. forthcoming. Responsibility for Silence.
Week 8
Kukla, Rebecca. 2014. Performative Force, Convention, and Discursive Injustice.
Fricker, Miranda. 2003. Epistemic Injustice And A Role For Virtue in The Politics of Knowing.
Medina, José. 2010. The Relevance of Credibility Excess in a Proportional View of Epistemic Injustice: Differential Epistemic Authority and the Social Imaginay.
Optional: Tumulty, Maura. 2012. Illocutions and Expectations of Being Heard.
Week 9
Dotson, Kristie. 2011. Tracking Epistemic Violence, Tracking Practices of Silencing.
Anderson, Elizabeth. 2012. Epistemic Justice as a Virtue of Social Institutions.
Optional: Fricker, Miranda. 2012. Silence and Institutional Prejudice.
Langton, Rae. forthcoming. Hate Speech and the Epistemology of Justice.
Week 10 Deadline for Handout #2
Haslanger, Sally. 2011. Ideology, Generics, and Common Ground.
Leslie, Sarah J. Forthcoming. The Original Sin of Cognition: Fear, Prejudice and Generalization. Optional: Leslie, Sarah J. 2014. Carving up the Social World with Generics.
Week 11
Haslanger, Sally. 2000. “Gender and Race: (What) Are They? (What) Do We Want Them To Be?”
Penley, Constance, Caline Perreñas Shimizu, Mirielle Miller-Young, and Tristan Taormino. 2013. Introduction: The Politics of Producing Pleasure.
O'Connor, Sinead. 2013. Open Letter to Miley Cyrus.
Palmer, Amanda. 2013. An Open to Sinead O'Connor, Re: Miley Cyrus.
The World Before Her (2012), a documentary by Nisha Pahuja
Yoffe, Emily. 2013. College Women: Stop Getting Drunk.
Antony, Louis. 2013. Advising Women Against Drinking Also Sends A Dangerous Method.
Optional: Haslanger, Sally. 2013. Social Meaning And Philosophical Method.
Week 12
Braddon-Mitchell, David & Caroline West. 2004. What is Free Speech?
McGowan, Mary K. 2012. On “Whites Only” Signs and Racist Hate Speech: Verbal Acts of Racial Discrimination.
Mill, John S. 1978. On Liberty. (selection)
Week 13. Deadline for paper response draft
Tirrell, Lynne. 2012. Genocidal Language Games.
West, Caroline. 2012. Words That Silence? Freedom of Expression and Racist Hate Speech.
Week 14
Nielsen, Laura B. 2012. Power in Public: Reactions, Responses, and Resistance to Offensive Public Speech.
Gelber, Katharine. 2012. ‘Speaking Back’: The Likely Fate of Hate Speech Policy in the United States and Australia.
Springer, Elise. 2013. Communicating Moral Concern: An Ethics of Critical Responsiveness.)
Week 15. Deadline for paper response (final version)
Open discussion
This course explores political and moral aspects of language use. Through the discussion and critical analysis of academic papers and non-academic materials, we will inquire into how speech and silence are related to moral wrongness, harm, liberty, resistance and social justice. This is a seminar course. Students are required to read the assigned readings thoroughly and come to class with questions. The more students engage with the materials, the more productive the course will be.
Course evaluation
Presentation in class: 27%
2 Handouts: 2 x 10%: 20%
Weekly questions (pass/fail on each question out of 13): 13%
Written assignment (critical response to one of the readings): 40%
Presentation in class: each student must choose one of the readings from the syllabus and make a presentation in class. The presentation should explain the argument and the conclusion of the reading and, ideally, include critical comments. Length: 45 minutes. Sign up for your presentation online.
Handouts: students are expected to select 2 readings and develop 1 handout for each reading (2 total). The handout must summarize the argument of the reading. Ideally, it will also connect it with other readings, and/or include (brief) critical comments. Handouts will be graded on a 0-1-2 scale (0: non-existent or poor; 1: good; 2: very good). Handout length: up to one two-sided page. Format: be creative!
Weekly questions: each week students are expected to bring to class a question on one of the assigned readings (in writing), and raise it in class. These questions will be evaluated on a 0-1 scale (0: non-existent or irrelevant for the reading; 1: relevant).
Paper response (written assignment): each student will write a critical response to one of the readings. It cannot be a mere summary of the paper, or a statement of a personal opinion that does not explicitly engage with the paper’s argument. A good paper response will contain both an accurate summary of the paper’s argument, and a critical analysis of some part of that argument. Maximum length: 1500 words.
Course schedule
Week 1
Course overview
Week 2
Austin, John. 1962. How To Do Things With Words.
Langton, Rae. 1993. Speech Acts and Unspeakable Acts.
Week 3
Hornsby, Jennifer & Rae Langton. 1998. Free Speech & Illocution.
Jacobson, Daniel. 1995. Freedom of Speech Acts? A Response to Langton.
Langton, Rae. 2012. Beyond Belief: Pragmatics in Hate Speech and Pornography.
Week 4
Maitra, Ishani. 2009. Silencing Speech.
Saul, Jennifer M. 2006. Pornography, Speech Acts & Context.
Optional: Maitra, Ishani & Mary Kate McGowan. 2010. On Silencing, Rape and Responsibility.
Week 5
Maitra, Ishani. 2012. Subordinating Speech.
McGowan, Mary K. 2004. Conversational Exercitives: Something Else We Do With Our Words.
Optional: Langton, Rae & Caroline West. 1999. Scorekeeping In A Pornographic Language Game.
Lewis, David. 1979. Scorekeeping in a Language Game.
Week 6 Deadline for Handout #1
McGowan, Mary K. 2009. Oppressive Speech.
Simpson, Robert M. 2012. Un-Ringing the Bell: McGowan On Oppressive Speech and The Asymmetric Pliability of Conversations.
Week 7
Langton, Rae. 2014. The Authority of Hate Speech.
Langton, Rae. 2007. Disenfranchised Silence.
Optional: Ayala, Saray & Nadya Vasilyeva. forthcoming. Responsibility for Silence.
Week 8
Kukla, Rebecca. 2014. Performative Force, Convention, and Discursive Injustice.
Fricker, Miranda. 2003. Epistemic Injustice And A Role For Virtue in The Politics of Knowing.
Medina, José. 2010. The Relevance of Credibility Excess in a Proportional View of Epistemic Injustice: Differential Epistemic Authority and the Social Imaginay.
Optional: Tumulty, Maura. 2012. Illocutions and Expectations of Being Heard.
Week 9
Dotson, Kristie. 2011. Tracking Epistemic Violence, Tracking Practices of Silencing.
Anderson, Elizabeth. 2012. Epistemic Justice as a Virtue of Social Institutions.
Optional: Fricker, Miranda. 2012. Silence and Institutional Prejudice.
Langton, Rae. forthcoming. Hate Speech and the Epistemology of Justice.
Week 10 Deadline for Handout #2
Haslanger, Sally. 2011. Ideology, Generics, and Common Ground.
Leslie, Sarah J. Forthcoming. The Original Sin of Cognition: Fear, Prejudice and Generalization. Optional: Leslie, Sarah J. 2014. Carving up the Social World with Generics.
Week 11
Haslanger, Sally. 2000. “Gender and Race: (What) Are They? (What) Do We Want Them To Be?”
Penley, Constance, Caline Perreñas Shimizu, Mirielle Miller-Young, and Tristan Taormino. 2013. Introduction: The Politics of Producing Pleasure.
O'Connor, Sinead. 2013. Open Letter to Miley Cyrus.
Palmer, Amanda. 2013. An Open to Sinead O'Connor, Re: Miley Cyrus.
The World Before Her (2012), a documentary by Nisha Pahuja
Yoffe, Emily. 2013. College Women: Stop Getting Drunk.
Antony, Louis. 2013. Advising Women Against Drinking Also Sends A Dangerous Method.
Optional: Haslanger, Sally. 2013. Social Meaning And Philosophical Method.
Week 12
Braddon-Mitchell, David & Caroline West. 2004. What is Free Speech?
McGowan, Mary K. 2012. On “Whites Only” Signs and Racist Hate Speech: Verbal Acts of Racial Discrimination.
Mill, John S. 1978. On Liberty. (selection)
Week 13. Deadline for paper response draft
Tirrell, Lynne. 2012. Genocidal Language Games.
West, Caroline. 2012. Words That Silence? Freedom of Expression and Racist Hate Speech.
Week 14
Nielsen, Laura B. 2012. Power in Public: Reactions, Responses, and Resistance to Offensive Public Speech.
Gelber, Katharine. 2012. ‘Speaking Back’: The Likely Fate of Hate Speech Policy in the United States and Australia.
Springer, Elise. 2013. Communicating Moral Concern: An Ethics of Critical Responsiveness.)
Week 15. Deadline for paper response (final version)
Open discussion