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EPISODE · Oct 21, 2012 · 51 MIN

Forbidden Words

from Philosophy Talk · host Philosophy Talk

Some words, like n****r, ch*nk, and c*nt, are so forbidden that we won’t even spell them out here. Decent people simply don’t use these words to refer to others; they are intrinsically disrespectful. But aren’t words just strings of sounds or letters? Words have life because they express ideas. But in a free society, how can we prohibit the expression of ideas? How can we forbid words? Where does the strange power of curses, epithets, and scatological terms come from? John and Ken avoid mincing words with Chris Hom from Texas Tech University, author of Hating and Necessity: The Semantics of Racial Epithets (forthcoming). This program was recorded live at the Marsh Theater in Berkeley, California.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Oct 21, 2012

What this episode covers

Some words, like n****r, ch*nk, and c*nt, are so forbidden that we won’t even spell them out here. Decent people simply don’t use these words to refer to others; they are intrinsically disrespectful. But aren’t words just strings of sounds or letters? Words have life because they express ideas. But in a free society, how can we prohibit the expression of ideas? How can we forbid words? Where does the strange power of curses, epithets, and scatological terms come from? John and Ken avoid mincing words with Chris Hom from Texas Tech University, author of Hating and Necessity: The Semantics of Racial Epithets (forthcoming). This program was recorded live at the Marsh Theater in Berkeley, California.

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How long is this episode of Philosophy Talk?

This episode is 51 minutes long.

When was this Philosophy Talk episode published?

This episode was published on October 21, 2012.

What is this episode about?

Some words, like n****r, ch*nk, and c*nt, are so forbidden that we won’t even spell them out here. Decent people simply don’t use these words to refer to others; they are intrinsically disrespectful. But aren’t words just strings of sounds or...

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