Langton (1993) constitutes her claim, with a specific look into her stance on uptake.
Uptake is defined as “the hearer’s recognition of the speaker’s communicative
intention” (McDonald, 2020, pp. 1). Uptake is successful if the hearer understands the
intention of the speaker. For example, if Ciara says to Jacob “Can you pass me the
pen?”, with Ciara’s intention being to get Jacob to pass her the pen, uptake is said to
have been successful if Jacob recognises this to be Ciara’s intention. If, however when
Ci ara says, “Can you pass me the pen?”, with the intention of getting Jacob to pass her
the pen, Jacob breaks the pen, as he thinks that this was the desired intention of
Ciara’s utterance, uptake is unsuccessful or not secured.
My dissertation explores three theories of uptake. Firstly, it looks at the
constitutional theory and ratification theory of uptake (McDonald, 2020, pp.2). It finds
that the ratification theory is the strongest theory and dismisses the constitutional
theory for three reasons: It lacks correspondence, it is normatively incoherent, and it
holds unsavoury political implications (McDonald,2002, pp.3). Next, it reviews the
third theory of uptake held by Bird (2002). Bird (2002, pp. 10) suggests that no uptake
is necessary for the success of an illocutionary act. I critique this theory of uptake
against the ratification theory. Through exploring the work of McGowan et al (2011,
pp.139) I show that Bird’s (2002, pp.10) thoughts on uptake are to be dismissed due to
his confusion of sincerity intention from illocutionary intention. This leaves me to
conclude in conjunction with McDonald (1993, pp. 1) that the ratification theory of
uptake is the strongest and most coherent theory. Thus, for the claim that pornography
silences women to be fully justified, it must sit within the ratification theory of uptake.
Investigation into how Langton (1993) views uptake leads me to find that she is
reliant on the incorrect theory, the constitutional theory. Despite this initially looking
problematic I identify literature by Hesni (2018), with conclusions of a similar nature
to Langton (1993) in terms of the harm pornography has on women, which is situated
within the correct theory of uptake (ratification theory). I explore how Langton (1993)
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