They say: Boys don’t cry, they say: Girls should be nice. The question of normative generics
Aleksandra Kowalewska-Buraczewska
Uniwersytet w Białymstoku, Wydział FilologicznyAbstract
The article addresses the problem of normative reading of a certain type of general statements – namely, generics. More specifically, it attempts to present the notion of norm and normativity (in philosophical and pragmatic context) and to offer a brief semantic and syntactic description of linguistic exponents of deontic meanings. At the same time, the author draws the attention to the difference between the normative and descriptive sense of utterances. The article focuses on the way this dichotomy is related to the normative force exhibited by generics where the nominal group refers to the so-called dual character concepts. Dual character seems to arise only in the case of only such social kinds (categories) that are – by widespread social agreement – expected to perform some important social role or function (e.g. a mother). It appears that the descriptive/normative duality is located in the polysemy of nouns functioning as the generic names of these kinds rather than in different logical forms. Interestingly, the fulfillment of normative criteria for an ideal (i.e. the fulfillment of social role attributed to the kind) is neither necessary nor sufficient for being a member of this kind in the descriptive sense.
Keywords:
norma, normatywność, normy pozaprawne, generalizacje, referencja gatunkowaReferences
Gasz A., 2013, Zarys gramatyki uogólnień na materiale aforyzmów (ujęcie polsko-rosyjskie), Katowice.
Hołówka T., 1986, Myślenie potoczne. Heterogeniczność zdrowego rozsądku, Warszawa.
Kalinowski J., 1953, Teoria zdań normatywnych. Studia Logica 1.
Kalinowski J., 1960, Teoria poznania praktycznego, Lublin.
Kalinowski J., 1993, Logika norm. Lublin.
Karczewski D., 2016, Generyczność w języku i myśleniu. Studium kognitywne, Kraków.
Kotarbiński T., 1986, Elementy teorii poznania, logiki formalnej i metodologii nauk, Warszawa.
Trypuz R., 2004, Spór o wartość logiczną norm. Logika norm a logika deontyczna, „Roczniki Filozoficzne”, LII (1), s. 293–316.
Lakoff R., 1980, Język a sytuacja kobiety, [w:] B. Stanosz (tł. i red.), Język w świetle nauki, Warszawa, s. 239–262.
Leslie S.J., 2015, „Hillary Clinton is the only man in the Obama administration”: Dual Character Concepts, Generics, and Gender, „Analytic Philosophy” Vol. 56, No. 2, s. 111–141.
Prasada S., Dillingham E., 2009, Representation of principled connections: A window onto the formal aspect of common sense conception. „Cognitive Science” 33, 401–448.
Prasada S., Khemlani S., Leslie S.-J., Glucksberg S., 2013, Conceptual distinctions amongst generics, „Cognition” 126, 405–422.
Taylor J.R., 2001, Kategoryzacja w języku, (tł.) Anna Skucińska, Universitas, Kraków, s. 111–119.
Wierzbicka, A., 2006, English: Meaning and Culture, Oxford University Press: Oxford–New York, s. 61–102.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/social-norms/ [02.06.2017]
http://hoga.pl/dobry-temat/chlopcy-bawia-sie-w-wojne-dziewczynki-wychowuja-lalki/ [08.06.2017]
https://www.wsensie.pl/polska/23613-pawlowicz-do-lewakow-czy-jedynym-mezczyzna-w-europie-musi-byc–kobieta-polska-premier-beata-szydlo [08.06.2017]
