Building evaluation into language

In this paper I spell out the conditions for a uniform analysis of thick terms and slurs, presentedin Cepollaro and Stojanovic (2016). Our claim is that thick terms and slurs convey evaluations viapresupposition and represent a device through which language implicitly conveys linguistically encodedevaluations. I introduce the presuppositional account (section 2) and elaborate on the conditions thatneed to be fulfilled for slurs and thick terms to be analyzed along similar lines (section 3). I discuss thepredictions that this approach offers about the issues of reference and extension (section 4). I concludewith some considerations about the role and functions of slurs and thick terms with respect to moralsystems (section 5).