Yes, Sally Haslinger and philosophers in her orbit are the go-to citations on a “therapeutic” engineering program. The idea is removing what Cappelen and Plunkett call “moral defects” from our language. I’m a little more skeptical of such programs to top-down re-engineer words on moral considerations, for reasons hopefully obvious to a reader of dystopian sci-fi or James C. Scott. I advocate instead doctrines of non-intervention & illumination:
The doctrine of non-intervention. Concepts should—in part because they can only, with any efficacy—be engineered locally. Only locals know the affordances of their specific use cases. Philosophers ought to engineer philosophical concepts, in order to straighten up their own discipline, but leave fishing concepts to the fishermen. Engineering-on-behalf ought only provide possibilities for bottom-up adoption; it should never limit possibilities by top-down imposition.
The illumination doctrine. Concepts should help illuminate the world, but never obscure it. This is especially important in ameliorative or ethical-political projects.
This essay describes the essence of the debate around “Trans women are women too” without mentioning it once.
Yes, Sally Haslinger and philosophers in her orbit are the go-to citations on a “therapeutic” engineering program. The idea is removing what Cappelen and Plunkett call “moral defects” from our language. I’m a little more skeptical of such programs to top-down re-engineer words on moral considerations, for reasons hopefully obvious to a reader of dystopian sci-fi or James C. Scott. I advocate instead doctrines of non-intervention & illumination: