Rebecca Roache is a British

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and senior lecturer at

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...

, known for her work on the

philosophy of language Philosophy of language refers to the philosophical study of the nature of language. It investigates the relationship between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of Meaning (philosophy), me ...

practical ethics Applied ethics is the practical aspect of moral considerations. It is ethics with respect to real-world actions and their moral considerations in private and public life, the professions, health, technology, law, and leadership. For example, bio ...

, and

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of the mind and its relation to the Body (biology), body and the Reality, external world. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a ...

. She is particularly noted for her work on

swearing Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such as anger, ex ...

, which has featured in various media, such as the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Biography

Roache received her

Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; or or ) is the title of an academic degree in philosophy that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's degrees, the ...

at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

in 1996 and her

MPhil A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at least ...

at the same university in 1997, where she worked, among others, with Robin Le Poidevin. She then took another MPhil (1999) and a PhD (2002) at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, with

Jane Heal Barbara Jane Heal (''née'' Kneale, born 21 October 1946) is a British philosopher, and since 2012, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Biography Heal is daughter of a pair of notable Oxford philosophers William Cal ...

and D.H. Mellor as dissertation advisers. She subsequently worked in various projects at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, including a research fellowship at the

Future of Humanity Institute The Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) was an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Oxford investigating big-picture questions about humanity and its prospects. It was founded in 2005 as part of the Faculty of Philosophy and t ...

. She is a senior lecturer at

. From 2013 to 2018, she was an associate editor for the ''

Journal of Medical Ethics The ''Journal of Medical Ethics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of bioethics that was established in 1975 and is published by BMJ. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2023 impact factor ...

''.

Notable philosophical views

Roache's theory of

examines why swearwords (including non-slurs and non-religious swearwords) are so powerful. She proposes that swearwords have a unique linguistic role, coupled to a unique emotional role. According to Roache, swearing obtains its power from speaker inferences: when someone swears, they know their audience will find it offensive, and they know the audience knows the swearer knows that the audience will find it offensive, and so on, a process termed "offence escalation". Speakers and listeners who belong to the same cultural and linguistic community will likely find similar things offensive, which explains why some expressions (disrespecting social hierarchy, sexual taboos, mention of bodily fluids, etc.) tend to cross-culturally recur as swearwords. Roache is also noted for a blog post where she said she unfriended people who voted for the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

in the 2015 general election. She argued that "Openly supporting a political party "that — in the name of austerity — withdraws support from the poor, the sick, the foreign, and the unemployed while rewarding those in society who are least in need of reward" was "as objectionable as expressing racist, sexist, or homophobic views". In addition to her work in the philosophy of language, Roache has published on a variety of topics in

and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

, such as which biomedical modifications to humans could be used to fight climate change.Bioengineer humans to tackle climate change, say philosophers
''The Guardian'', 14 March 2012, accessed 25 July 2018.

Selected publications

* Roache, R. 1999: "Mellor and Dennett on the perception of temporal order", ''The Philosophical Quarterly'' 49: 231–38. * Bostrom, N. and Roache, R. 2007: "Ethical issues in human enhancement", in J. Ryberg, T. Petersen, and C. Wolf (eds.) ''New Waves in Applied Ethics'' (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan): 120–52. * Roache, R. 2009: "Bilking the bilking argument", ''Analysis'' 69/4: 605–11. * Liao, S.M., Sandberg, A. and Roache, R. 2012: "Human engineering and climate change", ''Ethics, Policy & Environment'' 15/2: 206–21. * Roache, R. 2014: "Can brain scans prove criminals unaccountable?", ''AJOB Neuroscience'' 5/2: 35–37. * Roache, R. 2016: "Infertility and non-traditional families", ''Journal of Medical Ethics'' 42/9: 557–58. * Roache, R. 2017: "Is it better to die than to be lonely?" ''Journal of Medical Ethics'' 43/9: 575–76. * Roache, R. 2023: ''For F*ck's Sake: Why Swearing Is Shocking, Rude, & Fun'' EAN/UPC: 9780190665067

References

External links

''The Academic Imperfectionist'' podcast by Rebecca Roache
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roache, Rebecca Living people Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Leeds Philosophy of language British ethicists People from Pembrokeshire Welsh philosophers Year of birth missing (living people) Analytic philosophers British women philosophers Women ethicists