Is Haslanger's ameliorative project a successful conceptual engineering project?

Pinder, Mark (2022). Is Haslanger's ameliorative project a successful conceptual engineering project? Synthese, 200(4), article no. 334.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-022-03803-x

Abstract

Supporters of conceptual engineering often use Haslanger’s ameliorative project as a key example of their methodology. However, at face value, Haslanger’s project is no cause for optimism about conceptual engineering. If we interpret Haslanger as seeking to revise how people in general use and understand words such as ‘woman’, ‘man’, etc., then her project has been unsuccessful. And if we interpret her as seeking to reveal the meaning of those words, then her project does not involve conceptual engineering. I develop and defend an alternative interpretation of Haslanger’s project and argue that, so interpreted, it is a successful conceptual engineering project after all. In so doing, I develop what I call a particularist account of the success conditions for conceptual engineering.

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