CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Kazankov, Denis |
|---|---|
| Title | On What Matters in Assessing Concepts |
| Summary | This dissertation investigates a range of underexplored questions in conceptual ethics — the subfield of conceptual engineering concerned with assessing representational devices in language and thought. My focus is on linguistic conceptual ethics, whose target domain is linguistic expressions. The dissertation consists of seven chapters, divided into three parts. Part I (Chapters 1-4) focuses on the idea that conceptual assessment should be sensitive to the functions of representational devices. I first argue that a satisfactory interpretation of conceptual function must align with how we generally understand tool functions. To this end, I propose interpreting conceptual function in terms of the actual, potential, or perceived effects that motivate a user group — often implicitly — to retain an expression in their conceptual repertoire. I then defend the theoretical viability of this interpretation and demonstrate its usefulness through two case studies: one on cross-linguistic conceptual ethics and another on thick ethical concepts. Part II (Chapters 5-6) focuses on the ethics of conceptual abandonment, the subfield of conceptual ethics that investigates when expressions become so defective that it’s preferable to stop using them. I examine one argumentative strategy for abandonment, which appeals to a mismatch between what an expression refers to and what its users, on reflection, want it to refer to. I argue that abandoning an expression is a proper response to such mismatches only under relatively demanding conditions. I then critically engage with Cappelen’s (2023) recent argument for abandoning the expressions ‘democracy’ and ‘democratic’, and propose an alternative diagnosis that supports their retention. Part III (Chapter 7) tackles the problem of how to non-arbitrarily address epistemic-moral conflicts in conceptual assessment. I argue that while the prospects for addressing them through the method of comparative reasoning are grim, there is underexplored potential in what I call the ‘integrative approach’, which aims to restructure our patterns of linguistic engagement so as to promote greater convergence between epistemic and moral standards in conceptual ethics. |
| Supervisor | Asya Passinsky |
| Department | Philosophy PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/kazankov_denis.pdf |
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