2016 KNOX LECTURE

Description

2016 Knox Lecturer: Prof Rae Langton (Cambridge)

Blocking as Counter-speech

It is widely thought that evil speech should be fought with more speech, not bans. There are well-known limits on the effectiveness of counter-speech, but my topic here is chiefly its scope. Counter-speech can work by undoing, rather than refuting, evil speech: by blocking its felicity conditions and (relatedly) its presuppositions, and thus disabling its harmful illocutionary force. This brings out an unnoticed dimension to counter-speech, and highlights an unnoticed capacity of hearers and bystanders.

Period	26 Sept 2016
Event type	Other
Location	St Andrews, United KingdomShow on map