Perspectives and slurs

In Imagination and Convention, Ernie Lepore and Matthew Stone argue that metaphorical interpretation involves a distinctive process of perspective taking: metaphor invites us to organize our thinking about something through an analogical correspondence with something it is not. According to them, the same applies to slurs: some words come with an invitation to take a certain perspective, and uses of slurs are associated with ways of thinking about their targets that can harm people. The aim of this essay is to critically evaluate Lepore and Stone’s perspectival proposal. To this end, I will adopt a speech-acts framework, and focus on what speakers do by uttering a slur.