37.1544, FYI: Invited talk (Online / at Université Grenoble Alpes), 1 June 2026 - Bernhard Nickel (Harvard Philosophy Department) - "True Ideological Beliefs?"

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1544. Wed Apr 22 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1544, FYI: Invited talk (Online / at Université Grenoble Alpes), 1 June 2026 - Bernhard Nickel (Harvard Philosophy Department) - "True Ideological Beliefs?"

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Date: 22-Apr-2026
From: Laure Gardelle [laure.gardelle at univ-grenoble-alpes.fr]
Subject: Invited talk (Online / at Université Grenoble Alpes), 1 June 2026 - Bernhard Nickel (Harvard Philosophy Department) - "True Ideological Beliefs?"


ABSTRACT
On a pejorative use of the term, ideological beliefs are mistaken or
misguided in ways that help sustain unjust social and political
arrangements. Some cases, such as beliefs that treat historically
contingent facts as natural or inevitable, are easy to diagnose as
simply false.
More recently, however, attention has turned to generic
generalizations about social groups. They appear to go beyond mere
statistical description in ways that can support policies, yet they
also stop short of explicitly mentioning any causal basis. That
combination makes them hard to evaluate as true or false, leading some
theorists to propose new evaluative tools.
In this talk, I argue that no such tools are needed. Generic sentences
encode commitments to causal bases, and I explain why their use can
nonetheless create the appearance that speakers are not committed to
such claims. This allows us to assess them as straightforwardly false.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
1st June 2026, 14:00 French time (= 12:00 GMT). Length: 1h30 including
questions
On campus (room Jacques Cartier, MLC, Université Grenoble Alpes,
France) or online:
https://univ-grenoble-alpes-fr.zoom.us/j/99776551406?pwd=4Vr2bxPSNQa6BKPJRZUY4KFfMTYawK.1
Meeting ID: 997 7655 1406
Contact: laure.gardelle at univ-grenoble-alpes.fr
LINK TO BERNHARD NICKEL'S WEBPAGE:
https://philosophy.fas.harvard.edu/people/bernhard-nickel

Linguistic Field(s): Philosophy of Language

Subject Language(s): English (eng)




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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1544
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