Date of Graduation

7-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Philosophy (MA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Philosophy

Advisor/Mentor

McMullen, Amanda

Committee Member

Barrett, David

Second Committee Member

Funkhouser, Eric

Keywords

social conventions, semantic truth, generic stereotypes

Abstract

In my thesis, I provide a dual-analysis on generic stereotypes, including a semantic analysis that focuses on the truth conditions of generic sentences as well as a pragmatic analysis that focuses on the normative force of generic stereotypes. The thesis contains two parts: In the first chapter, I make a semantic analysis of generic stereotypes based on Lemeire’s (2020) paper. I unpack the general concept of generic sentences and their truth-conditions. I also discuss Lemeire’s rebuttal strategies to offensive generic stereotypes, and add to it by indicating that generics can also carry normative forces. In the second chapter, I make a pragmatic analysis of generic stereotypes based on Camp’s paper (2018), in which I am inspired by Camp’s multi-act analysis on slurs and apply a similar analysis on generic stereotypes, arguing that the utterance of generic may also be understood as committing multiple acts at the same time. The normative force of generic stereotypes not only affects the semantic truth of the utterance, but is also related to social conventions.

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