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    The meaning of generics is context-dependent and normativ... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Generic and habitual sentences are of great concern in computational linguistics.

    The meaning of generics is context-dependent and normatively loaded in ways that encode social bias rather than world knowledge (Leslie 2008).

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Generics like 'women are emotional' persist despite empirical evidence, suggesting social norms rather than facts drive their meaning.
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    • 2.Generic interpretations vary by community: the same generic carries different implications depending on speakers' social positions and histories.
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    • 3.Generics systematically reinforce stereotypes about marginalized groups while rarely doing so for dominant groups, revealing normative bias.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Many generics ('tigers have stripes,' 'birds lay eggs') express world knowledge independent of context or social bias about the groups referenced.
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    • 2.Context-dependence and normative loading are not unique to generics; they characterize all language, making generics not distinctively biased.
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    • 3.Attributing bias to generics' *meaning* conflates pragmatic use with semantic content; speakers may misuse generics without changing what they mean.
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    Key Terms

    knowledge(Distinguished from mere true belief, which may be the product of indoctrination and need not exercise deliberative capacities.)
    Justified true belief — true belief that has been arrived at through the exercise of deliberative capacities, including comparison of and deliberation among alternatives.

    Connections

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    Truth & Knowledge1 linkedPhilosophy of Language1 linked

    Related

    Attributing bias to generics' *meaning* conflates pragmatic use with semantic co...Context-dependence and normative loading are not unique to generics; they charac...Generic and habitual sentences are of great concern in computational linguistics...Generic interpretations vary by community: the same generic carries different im...
    +3 moreShow less
    Generics like 'women are emotional' persist despite empirical evidence, suggesti...Generics systematically reinforce stereotypes about marginalized groups while ra...

    Details

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    claim
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    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
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    Many generics ('tigers have stripes,' 'birds lay eggs') express world knowledge ...