The subject of this paper is the notion of similarity between the actual and impossible worlds. Many believe that this notion is governed by two rules. According to the first rule, every non-trivial world is more similar to the actual world than the trivial world is. The second rule states that every possible world is more similar to the actual world than any impossible world is. The aim of this paper is to challenge both of these rules. We argue that acceptance of the first rule leads to the claim that the rule ex contradictione sequitur quodlibet is invalid in classical logic. The second rule does not recognize the fact that objects might be similar to one another due to various features., Předmětem této práce je pojem podobnosti mezi skutečnými a nemožnými světy. Mnozí se domnívají, že tento pojem se řídí dvěma pravidly. Podle prvního pravidla je každý netriviální svět více podobný skutečnému světu, než je triviální svět. Druhé pravidlo uvádí, že každý možný svět je více podobný skutečnému světu, než jakýkoli nemožný svět. Cílem tohoto článku je zpochybnit obě tato pravidla. Tvrdíme, že přijetí prvního pravidla vede k tvrzení, že pravidlo ex contradictione sequitur quodlibet je v klasické logice neplatné. Druhé pravidlo neuznává skutečnost, že by objekty mohly být podobné vzhledem k různým vlastnostem., and Maciej Sendlak
Although slurs are conventionally defined as derogatory words, it has been widely noted that not all of their occurrences are derogatory. This may lead us to think that there are “innocent” occurrences of slurs, i.e., occurrences of slurs that are not harmful in any sense. The aim of this paper is to challenge this assumption. Our thesis is that slurs are always potentially harmful, even if some of their occurrences are nonderogatory. Our argument is the following. Derogatory occurrences of slurs are not characterized by their sharing any specific linguistic form; instead, they are those that take place in what we call uncontrolled contexts, that is, contexts in which we do not have enough knowledge of our audience to predict what the uptake of the utterance will be. Slurs uttered in controlled contexts, by contrast, may lack derogatory character. However, although the kind of context at which the utterance of a slur takes place can make it nonderogatory, it cannot completely deprive it of its harmful potential. Utterances of slurs in controlled contexts still contribute to normalizing their utterances in uncontrolled contexts, which makes nonderogatory occurrences of slurs potentially harmful too.