Bad Language is the first textbook on an emerging area in the study of language: non-idealized language use, the linguistic behaviour of people who exploit language for malign purposes. This lively, accessible introduction offers theoretical frameworks for thinking about such topics as lies and bullshit, slurs and insults, coercion and silencing.

• 1: Idealized Communication


• 2: Three Forms of Non-Ideal Language


• 3: Messing with the Truth


• 4: Bullshitting and Deep Bullshitting


• 5: Conceptual Engineering


• 6: Slurs and Pejoratives


• 7: Lexical Effects: The Non-Cognitive, Associative, Effects of Words


• 8: Generics and Defective Reasoning


• 9: Non-Ideal Speech Acts


• 10: Linguistic Oppressing and Linguistic Silencing


• 11: The Speech Act of Consent


• 12: Thoughts on Ideal vs. Non-Ideal Theories of Language

Herman Cappelen is a professor of philosophy at the University of Oslo and at the University of St Andrews. He is a Co-Director at CSMN (in Oslo), and the Editor-in-Chief of Inquiry. He has written, co-authored, or edited more than ten books and many articles. He works in all areas of systematic philosophy.
Josh Dever is a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin and a professorial fellow at the Arche research centre at the University of St Andrews. He has co-written three books and many articles on the philosophy of language.