What is passive aggression? Why is it so annoying? What message does the person being passive aggressive try to convey? Is it usually better to speak our mind about what bothers us, or to be passive aggressive? Is it sometimes better to just swear at people? In this interview with Dr Katrien Devolder (Oxford Uehiro… Read More »Video Interview: Rebecca Roache on Passive Aggression
Dr Rebecca Roache, former Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics staff member, and lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, has recently published an essay on swearing in the online Aeon Magazine. To read the full article and join in the conversation please follow this link: https://aeon.co/essays/where-does-swearing-get-its-power-and-how-should-we-use-it. Dr Roache has previously spoken on this topic, as… Read More »Naughty words What makes swear words so offensive? It’s not their meaning or even their sound. Is language itself a red herring here?
Last Thursday’s Special Ethics Seminar at St Cross College was booked out very quickly, and the audience’s high expectations were fully justified. Rebecca Roache returned from Royal Holloway to Oxford to give a fascinating lecture on the nature and ethics of swearing. Roache has two initial questions: ‘Is there anything wrong with this fucking question?’, and ‘Is this one any f***ing better?’. (Her answers turn out to be, essentially, ‘No’ to both.)Read More »On Swearing (lecture by Rebecca Roache)
