Description
Political philosophy has long privileged public speech and institutional political discourse as central sites of analysis. Increasingly, however, attention has shifted toward the normative dimensions of ordinary language use and the dynamics of linguistic change in non-ideal social contexts.Language is a social practice through which shared forms of understanding, coordination, and mutual orientation are sustained over time. Shifts in linguistic conventions can reshape how individuals relate to one another, influence how social differences are marked or obscured, and affect patterns of inclusion within pluralistic and diverse societies. The ways in which linguistic expressions are used, repeated, and taken up also structure expectations about what can be said and contribute to the reinforcement or attenuation of prejudices and stereotypes. In this sense, language plays a constitutive role in shaping the normative environment in which social and political life unfolds.
This constitutive role gives rise to a range of philosophical questions concerning the emergence, stability, and contestation of norms governing language use. It invites reflection on how such norms are maintained over time and on the extent to which participants in shared linguistic practices are answerable to one another for their contributions to evolving communicative environments.
This panel seeks to bring together normative and descriptive perspectives on how patterns of language use emerge, stabilize, and transform across different settings. It therefore welcomes contributions that offer conceptual, normative, or empirically informed philosophical analyses of language as a social practice. These include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
•language in social construction
•the relationship between language use and social coordination
•feminist philosophy of language
•communicative responsibilities
•normative views on stereotyping and discrimination in communication
•social/political speech and social norm change
•linguistic injustice
•the distribution and justification of normative expectations across different speakers and contexts
•methodological issues in language and analytic ideology critique
•counterspeech
Wednesday 2 September
No sessions planned
Thursday 3 September
09:30–11:30
Session 2
Matt Cull — “What Are the Words You Do Not Yet Have?” And How Do You Get Them?
Sara White — What Is a “Woman”?
11:30–12:00
Tea and Coffee Break (optional)
12:00–13:00
Session 2 (continued)
Eirini Vryza — Shifting Speakers: The Politics of Illocutionary Agency
13:00–14:00
Lunch
14:00–16:00
Session 3
Francesca Cesarano — Blame for Structural Injustice: An Agency Scaffolding Account
Corrado Fumagalli & Martina Rosola — Misgendering: Harmful and Undemocratic
16:00–16:30
Tea and Coffee Break (optional)
16:30–17:30
Session 3 (continued)
Suzanne Whitten — When Is a March a ‘Hate March’? Labelling, Legitimacy, and the Limits of Dissent
Friday 4 September
No sessions planned
| Period | 2026 → … |
|---|---|
| Event title | MANCEPT Workshops 2026 |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Manchester, United KingdomShow on map |