Pornography and Speech Act Theory – An In-Depth Survey
Considering the short history of the feminist philosophy of language, Rae Langton’s article “Speech Acts and Unspeakable Acts” was highly influential as one of the first positive research programs in the movement. In her paper, Langton – using John L. Austin’s speech act theory – interprets Cathari...
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Eötvös Loránd University
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Elpis |
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| Online Access: | https://ojs.elte.hu/elpis/article/view/7602 |
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| author | Áron Dombrovszki |
| author_facet | Áron Dombrovszki |
| author_sort | Áron Dombrovszki |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Considering the short history of the feminist philosophy of language, Rae Langton’s article “Speech Acts and Unspeakable Acts” was highly influential as one of the first positive research programs in the movement. In her paper, Langton – using John L. Austin’s speech act theory – interprets Catharine MacKinnon’s thesis: pornography is a speech that subordinates and silences women. Despite the importance of the subject, those unfamiliar with certain historical and contextual features of the topic would hardly understand it.
My paper aims to introduce some of the major accounts in this special area at the intersection of speech act theory and feminist philosophy. Rather than just reconstructing Langton’s arguments and the most common objections against it, I take a more holistic approach, examining its surrounding literature as well.
My article has six sections. In Section 1, I contrast the conservative and liberal arguments against pornography and sketch MacKinnon’s liberal critique. In Section 2, I give alternative interpretations of MacKinnon’s thesis that “pornography is harm.” In Section 3, I try to make sense of the prima facie implausible assumption that pornography is speech. In Section 4 and 5, I analyze the Langtonian theories about subordination and silencing. Finally, in Section 6, I mention the most challenging problems for Langton’s approach, considering the verbal nature of pornography, the limits of the protection of free speech, and the different positions on sexual consent.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3c78760c76df4ca18da72a6c17ec561f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1788-8298 2732-3684 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | Eötvös Loránd University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Elpis |
| spelling | doaj-art-3c78760c76df4ca18da72a6c17ec561f2025-01-25T17:58:07ZengEötvös Loránd UniversityElpis1788-82982732-36842021-04-0114110.54310/Elpis.2021.1.27309Pornography and Speech Act Theory – An In-Depth SurveyÁron Dombrovszki0ELTE BTK Considering the short history of the feminist philosophy of language, Rae Langton’s article “Speech Acts and Unspeakable Acts” was highly influential as one of the first positive research programs in the movement. In her paper, Langton – using John L. Austin’s speech act theory – interprets Catharine MacKinnon’s thesis: pornography is a speech that subordinates and silences women. Despite the importance of the subject, those unfamiliar with certain historical and contextual features of the topic would hardly understand it. My paper aims to introduce some of the major accounts in this special area at the intersection of speech act theory and feminist philosophy. Rather than just reconstructing Langton’s arguments and the most common objections against it, I take a more holistic approach, examining its surrounding literature as well. My article has six sections. In Section 1, I contrast the conservative and liberal arguments against pornography and sketch MacKinnon’s liberal critique. In Section 2, I give alternative interpretations of MacKinnon’s thesis that “pornography is harm.” In Section 3, I try to make sense of the prima facie implausible assumption that pornography is speech. In Section 4 and 5, I analyze the Langtonian theories about subordination and silencing. Finally, in Section 6, I mention the most challenging problems for Langton’s approach, considering the verbal nature of pornography, the limits of the protection of free speech, and the different positions on sexual consent. https://ojs.elte.hu/elpis/article/view/7602Analytic PhilosophyFeminist Philosophy of LanguagePornographySpeech Act TheorySilencing |
| spellingShingle | Áron Dombrovszki Pornography and Speech Act Theory – An In-Depth Survey Elpis Analytic Philosophy Feminist Philosophy of Language Pornography Speech Act Theory Silencing |
| title | Pornography and Speech Act Theory – An In-Depth Survey |
| title_full | Pornography and Speech Act Theory – An In-Depth Survey |
| title_fullStr | Pornography and Speech Act Theory – An In-Depth Survey |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pornography and Speech Act Theory – An In-Depth Survey |
| title_short | Pornography and Speech Act Theory – An In-Depth Survey |
| title_sort | pornography and speech act theory an in depth survey |
| topic | Analytic Philosophy Feminist Philosophy of Language Pornography Speech Act Theory Silencing |
| url | https://ojs.elte.hu/elpis/article/view/7602 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT arondombrovszki pornographyandspeechacttheoryanindepthsurvey |