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The William James lectures

by J. L. Austin, Melville J. Herskovits, Edward L. Thorndike, Gabriel Marcel, Allen Newell, Wollheim, Richard
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BOOKS
1,393
PAGES
~23h 13min
READING TIME

About Author

J. L. Austin

John Langshaw Austin (26 March 1911 – 8 February 1960) was an English philosopher of language and leading proponent of ordinary language philosophy, best known for developing the theory of speech acts. Austin pointed out that we use language to do things as well as to assert things, and that the utterance of a statement like "I promise to do so-and-so" is best understood as doing something—here, making a promise—rather than making an assertion about anything; hence the title of one of his best-known works, How to Do Things with Words (1955). Austin, in formulating this theory of speech acts, mounts a significant challenge to the philosophy of language, far beyond merely elucidating a class of morphological sentence forms that function to do what they name. Austin's work ultimately suggests that all speech and all utterance is the doing of something with words and signs, challenging a metaphysics of language that would posit denotative, propositional assertion as the essence of language and meaning.

Description

This work sets out Austin's conclusions in the field to which he directed his main efforts for at least the last ten years of his life. Starting from an exhaustive examination of his already well-known distinction between performative utterances and statements, Austin here finally abandons that distinction, replacing it with a more general theory of 'illocutionary forces' of utterances which has important bearings on a wide variety of philosophical problems.

How the series evolves

beginning
How to Do Things with Words
5.0· strong start
the pit
Man and his works
0.0
finale
The thread of life
0.0· messes up the ending
overall
2.0· maybe series needed more care

Books in this Series

How to Do Things with Words

J. L. Austin
5.0 (2)
1

This work sets out Austin's conclusions in the field to which he directed his main efforts for at least the last ten years of his life. Starting from an exhaustive examination of his already well-known distinction between performative utterances and statements, Austin here finally abandons that distinction, replacing it with a more general theory of 'illocutionary forces' of utterances which has important bearings on a wide variety of philosophical problems.

Man and his works

Melville J. Herskovits, Edward L. Thorndike
0.0 (0)
0

The existential background of human dignity

Gabriel Marcel
0.0 (0)
0

Unified theories of cognition

Allen Newell
5.0 (1)
0

The thread of life

Wollheim, Richard
0.0 (0)
0

"In this distinguished book, first published in 1984, Richard Wollheim offers an original approach to the philosophical understanding of a person. Countering prevailing theories on the nature of persons, Wollheim submits an account of the mind dynamically conceived and proposes that we take as fundamental the process of living as a person. To illuminate this process, the author draws on psychoanalysis and literature, in particular the case studies of Freud and the writings of Proust."--BOOK JACKET.