THE DEROGATORY EPITHETS: INFAMOUS PRESUPPOSITIONS/GLI EPITETI DENIGRATORI: PRESUPPOSIZIONI INFAMI

In this paper I offer a brief introduction about what derogatory epithets (or "slurs") are, how we use them and why they should ever interest philosophers of language and linguists; I will present three kinds of possible analyses of slurs, focusing on what kind of intuitions they account for and what kind of problems they encounter. In the last session, I sketch the theory I defend: an analysis of slurs' derogatory content in terms of presuppositions. Besides presenting the explanatory advantages of such approach, I briefly present the challenges this strategy faces and propose possible solutions to the main objections.