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Biased Evaluative Descriptions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2023

SARA BERNSTEIN
SARA BERNSTEIN*
Affiliation:
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME sbernste@nd.edu
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Abstract

In this essay I identify a type of linguistic phenomenon new to feminist philosophy of language: biased evaluative descriptions. Biased evaluative descriptions are descriptions whose well-intended positive surface meanings are inflected with implicitly biased content. Biased evaluative descriptions are characterized by three main features: (1) they have roots in implicit bias or benevolent sexism, (2) their application is counterfactually unstable across dominant and subordinate social groups, and (3) they encode stereotypes. After giving several different kinds of examples of biased evaluative descriptions, I distinguish them from similar linguistic concepts, including backhanded compliments, slurs, insults, epithets, pejoratives, and dog whistles. I suggest that the traditional framework of Gricean implicature cannot account for biased evaluative descriptions. I discuss some challenges to the distinctiveness and evaluability of biased evaluative descriptions, including intersectional social identities. I conclude by discussing their social significance and moral status. Identifying biased evaluative descriptions is important for a variety of social contexts, from the very general and broad (political speeches) to the very particular and small (bias in academic hiring).

Type
Article
Information
Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , June 2024 , pp. 295 - 312
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Philosophical Association

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Footnotes

Thanks to Louise Antony, Ray Briggs, Bianca Cepollaro, Esa Díaz-León, Anne Eaton, Faeze Faezeli, Carolina Flores, Dan López de Sa, Daniel Nolan, Dee Payton, Michael Rea, Jennifer Saul, Adam Sennet, Georgette Sinkler, Devin Sprague Morse, Isidora Stojanovic, and several anonymous referees for excellent feedback on this essay. Thanks also to audiences at the Words Workshop, the Pacific APA, the University of Illinois- Chicago, the University of Barcelona, Notre Dame Gender Studies, Rutgers University, the University of St Andrews, and the Institut Jean Nicod for excellent questions. I owe gratitude to my feminist philosophy class at the University of Notre Dame for hashing out these ideas with me. Thanks also to the National Endowment for the Humanities: revisions on this essay were completed during my fellowship year.

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