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NEW WORDS FOR OLD WRONGS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2018

Ishani Maitra
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Abstract

This paper begins with the idea that there are sometimes gaps in our shared linguistic/conceptual resources that make it difficult for us to understand our own social experiences, and to make them intelligible to others. In this paper, I focus on three cases of this sort, some of which are drawn from the literature on hermeneutical injustice. I offer a diagnosis of what the gaps in these cases consist in, and what it takes to fill them. I argue that these gaps are filled in, at least initially, by labels of a particular kind. Specifically, these are labels that allow us to see the experiences in question as novel instances of phenomena with which we are already normatively familiar. Further, I also show that these labels bring with them important downsides: they introduce distortions into our understandings of these experiences. Using a pair of case studies (‘statutory rape,’ ‘sexual harassment’), I illustrate these distortions.

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Articles
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Episteme , Volume 15 , Special Issue 3: 2017 Episteme Conference , September 2018 , pp. 345 - 362
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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