Essentialist (Mis)givings

Edited by Mirabelle Martin

Abstract

This paper critiques Eleonore Neufeld’s essentialist account of slurs, according to which they function as failed natural kind terms that encode an imagined group essence responsible for negative stereotypical features. Slurs, on this view, are informationally rich despite having empty extensions, since they presuppose a causal “mini-theory” linking imagined essence to derogatory surface features. After reconstructing Neufeld’s framework within the Kripke-Putnam view on natural kind terms, I show her theory successfully explains a wide range of canonical and non-canonical slur uses. However, it also underestimates the instability of slurs in natural language. I introduce slurs as floating signifiers by demonstrating two cases where slurs’ target groups are unconventional. To accommodate these cases, I propose a modest modification to Neufeld’s definition of slurs that foregrounds the speaker’s perspective and agency. This adjustment preserves the strengths of essentialism while offering a more politically responsible account of how slurs are discursively weaponized.