J. L. Austin Research Papers (original) (raw)

Meaning-making is at the center of all human communicative events. Communication is an exchange of meanings encoded in written or spoken words, non-verbal cues, signs, symbols, and so on. Creating, exchanging, and interpreting meaning is... more

Meaning-making is at the center of all human communicative events. Communication is an exchange of meanings encoded in written or spoken words, non-verbal cues, signs, symbols, and so on. Creating, exchanging, and interpreting meaning is ingrained in human nature since prehistoric times. Language is the most sophisticated medium of communication. It is through language that we set meanings or in other words — refer, define, and signify the things in nature and the ideas in our mind. (Griffiths, 2017)
The term ‘meaning of meaning’ was first coined by anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski in 1923. According to him meaning is related to multiple phenomena. It has various facets and these features are related to the external world (extra-linguistic factors) and the linguistic properties (phonetics, morphology, syntax, and semantics)
The concept of meaning is vast and has many moving parts. Questing for the answer — ‘what is the meaning of meaning’ makes us take a multi-disciplinary approach; from linguistics, philosophy, neurology, to semiotics. In this essay, I will reflect on the meaning of ‘meaning’ from a multidisciplinary approach, discuss the challenges of doing meaning, and the role of context in understanding the meaning of words and sentences.

This article aims to explore the contribution that a dialogue between Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault could make to the literature on the “force of words”. Firstly, it addresses Bourdieu’s critique of the linguistic reductionism,... more

This article aims to explore the contribution that a dialogue between Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault could make to the literature on the “force of words”. Firstly, it addresses Bourdieu’s critique of the linguistic reductionism, showing that – although legitimate – it risks resulting in an unacceptable form of sociological determinism. It then explores the perspective inaugurated by Jacques Derrida and taken up by Judith Butler, who inscribe in the very functioning of the performative its capacity to break with the context of enunciation. Finally, after highlighting the limits of such a perspective, it suggests, drawing on Stanley Cavell’s insights, that we should give a greater importance to J.L. Austin’s notion of perlocutionary effect, and argues that Foucault’s work on ancient parrēsia constitute a valuable “laboratory” in which to study the force that words and acts of resistance actually possess.

Toilets in modern water closets rise up from the floor like water lilies. The architect does all he can to make the body forget how paltry it is, and to make man ignore what happens to his intestinal wastes after the water from the tank... more

Toilets in modern water closets rise up from the floor like water lilies. The architect does all he can to make the body forget how paltry it is, and to make man ignore what happens to his intestinal wastes after the water from the tank flushes them down the drain. Even though the sewer pipelines reach far into our houses with their tentacles, they are carefully hidden from view, and we are happily ignorant of the invisible Venice of shit underlying our bathrooms, bedrooms, dance halls, and parliaments. Milan Kundera in The Unbearable Lightness of Being All is designed A cursory look at our surroundings should suffice to show that our lives are carried out in the depth of a designed environment. So prevalent is the presence of design in our experience that the fact that our environment is designed has become transparent and in this transparency, invisible. Sheltered in the inconspicuousness and normalcy of daily use, the normative might of the rules that issue from the objects of our use determining our customary doings becomes lost from view. Virtually all our doings—both voluntary and, more remarkably, involuntary actions—are framed, determined, oriented and guided by our interactions with objects of human invention and manufacture. Nature, our own and around us, has been counterfeited. This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. The park, the animal, the field, the sky and the mountain, all those things that we insist in calling 'nature' are little more than impostors. By design, nature has receded out of sight and the often-heard political summon of its proverbial purity expressing naturalist appeals to biological authenticity are politically suspect. We are not in nature and the traces of nature that remain with us are the product of our invention. By design,

This paper follows on from Austin’s search for a definition of performatives, both from a linguistic as well as a pragmatic point of view. In the first chapter we attempt to describe and examine performative verbs, or performative... more

This paper follows on from Austin’s search for a definition of performatives, both from a linguistic as well as a pragmatic point of view. In the first chapter we attempt to describe and examine performative verbs, or performative utterances, based on linguistic criteria. We introduce several new terms, and on the contrary we leave out several of Austin’s terms altogether. We regard performatives as a certain kind of action during whose utterance we are also doing something. For the first time, we characterize social validity (the utterance or non-utterance of a performative is associated with social consequences) and conventional consequential meaning (fixed formula, which are under normal circumstances reached for a particular effect on the addressee, have this meaning). For the primary semantic definition of performatives we established the following sentence, “By saying this, I make or do somehow or something”. Based on this format, we analyzed utterances which Austin considers as being performative. The format proves to be satisfactory but sometimes with a necessary degree of abstraction and free application. For performative verbs we use a verbal language analysis, based on which we found conformity with constative verbs describing doing something somehow. As an additional feature of performative utterances, we determined their dynamic nature (making a performative utterance is accompanied by a transformation which is shown as an effect on the addressee). We separate these utterances into explicit verbs (i.e. containing a verb), implicit verbs (the verb is formally omitted, the verb meaning remains) and nonverbal historically fixed. In a performative utterance the addressee is most often (if not exclusively) the person or persons to whom the utterance is intended, either explicitly - directly or indirectly - or implicitly. In the second chapter, we focus on a search for possible “original” performatives and try to determine their characteristics. We focus on the dichotomy of the future versus performatives and come to the conclusion that the auxiliary verbs used today for expressing the future had their original, specific meaning. By applying the method of etymological analysis, we concluded that the first performatives were associated with specific motion tasks or rituals or with general speech.

""From the OUP Catalog: * Ambitious original study of a fascinating aspect of human nature * The most serious and systematic account of the notion of self-expression in thirty years * Blends approaches from experimental psychology,... more

J.L. Austin’s insight that language should be treated as a domain of human action, rather than merely as a tool for the transmission of information, has been enormously influential. His analysis of speech acts continues to be widely... more

J.L. Austin’s insight that language should be treated as a domain of human action, rather than merely as a tool for the transmission of information, has been enormously influential. His analysis of speech acts continues to be widely utilised in a vast number of fields, from the philosophy of language to social and political philosophy, the philosophy of law, gender and literary studies, as well as a variety of social sciences. Yet scholars have so far focused on performative utterances and illocutionary acts, while the perlocutionary dimension of speech has generally been dismissed as unessential. This special issue, drawing inspiration from Stanley Cavell’s seminal work on passionate utterance, aims to shed new light on the philosophical, moral and political relevance of the perlocutionary.

O capítulo argumenta que um retorno aos elementos do performativo austiniano é salutar para compreender a performatividade de gênero em Judith Butler. A filósofa tem reconhecido em alguns textos e entrevistas que sua formulação inicial da... more

O capítulo argumenta que um retorno aos elementos do performativo austiniano é salutar para compreender a performatividade de gênero em Judith Butler. A filósofa tem reconhecido em alguns textos e entrevistas que sua formulação inicial da performatividade de gênero gerou duas interpretações contrárias e nenhuma delas considera a dimensão dual da performatividade. Sugeriremos que isso se dá, especialmente no Brasil, por uma lacuna no debate da própria noção de performatividade. O trabalho inicialmente recupera o performativo como desenvolvido por Austin, em seguida explora a influência de Derrida para, então, chegar ao desenvolvimento singular da teoria da performatividade de gênero de Butler.

I am planning a history of the notion of philosophical nonsense and naturally difficult historical and exegetical questions have come up. Charles Pigden has argued that the notion goes back at least as far as Hobbes and that Locke,... more

I am planning a history of the notion of philosophical nonsense and naturally difficult historical and exegetical questions have come up. Charles Pigden has argued that the notion goes back at least as far as Hobbes and that Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant (on some interpretations) and pragmatists such as William James, as well as numerous Twentieth-Century philosophers make use of it. In this ‘paper’ I put forward for general discussion such questions as whether Hobbes was the first 'nonsensicalist', whether Kant was a 'nonsensicalist' at all, which philosophers if any have considered contradictions to be meaningless and whether Wittgenstein thought that his concept of criterion could legitimately be used verificationistically. I shall continue to add further questions as they occur to me.

La perspective du présent recueil d’études sur le langage n'est ni celle d'une adoption, ni celle d'un rejet du paradigme dominant de la « philosophie du langage » de tradition analytique : s’inscrire dans le paradigme aurait accrédité... more

La perspective du présent recueil d’études sur le langage n'est ni celle d'une adoption, ni celle d'un rejet du paradigme dominant de la « philosophie du langage » de tradition analytique : s’inscrire dans le paradigme aurait accrédité par principe la restriction excessive d'une réflexion sur le langage à l'un de ses objets centraux, la signification ; exclure le paradigme aurait récusé arbitrairement une tradition féconde, identifiable par le caractère spécifique de ses questions ainsi que par l’articulation de ses décisions théoriques aux théories formelles, linguistiques et logiques. G. Kévorkian étudie « L’‘invention de la proposition’ dans le Sophiste de Platon : une projection des paradigmes aristotéliciens et frégéens de la prédication ; C. Chiesa : « Les mots, les pensées et les choses chez Aristote » ; G. Verbeke : « La philosophie du signe chez les stoïciens » ; Stefano Gensini : « Leibniz sur l’arbitraire du signe » ; Bernard Mabille : « Hegel et le langage de la philosophie » ; Jean-Michel Roy : « Tournant linguistique et tournant analytique » ; Jocelyn Benoist : « Sens et performance » ; Pascal Engel : « Une théorie de la signification peut-elle être autre que modeste ? Introduction aux théories contemporaines de la signification » ; Jean-Marie Vaysse enfin : « Le langage de Heidegger à Derrida : de la poésie à la littérature ».

We lie and deceive on a regular basis. To make clear that we are so doing, though, is subject to some kind of infelicity. This paper develops a conceptual analysis of lying and deceiving in a reciprocal fashion by pointing their... more

We lie and deceive on a regular basis. To make clear that we are so doing, though, is subject to some kind of infelicity. This paper develops a conceptual analysis of lying and deceiving in a reciprocal fashion by pointing their anti-griciness as a common logical factor, despite their obvious differences. Lying is anti-gricy, for to make clear that one’s lying is a non-play considering assertion but assertion is required for lying. Deceiving is anti-gricy, for to make clear that one’s is deceiving is tantamount to expel oneself of the communicative chain one’s is trying to take advantage of.

Paper written for the Ontology course by professor Tiziana Andina at the Università degli Studi di Torino, during the academic year 2017/18. The aim of this paper is to describe the characteristics and the outcomes of the book How to do... more

Paper written for the Ontology course by professor Tiziana Andina at the Università degli Studi di Torino, during the academic year 2017/18.
The aim of this paper is to describe the characteristics and the outcomes of the book How to do Things with Words by John Langshaw Austin. In the first part, I analyse the main characteristics of the so called performatives, then I describe Austin’s theorisation of the speech acts according to their illocutionary force.

High rates of gender-based violence and sexist political rhetoric are central features of contemporary Turkey. This article explores the complex relationship between the two by drawing on the literature that investigates the (re)making of... more

High rates of gender-based violence and sexist political rhetoric are central features of contemporary Turkey. This article explores the complex relationship between the two by drawing on the literature that investigates the (re)making of the category of “woman” in the Middle East and the scholarship on femicide/feminicide. The article employs critical discourse analysis of ruling politicians’ gender-normative statements and shows how they reconstruct the category of “proper woman” as one with institutional and social consequences that compromise women’s safety. Using John L. Austin’s theory of performative speech acts, the article develops a theory of the speaking state to explain the effects of political speech. Ultimately it argues that the politics of “woman making” is central to “the politics of woman killing.”

In his essays on Brecht’s epic theater, Walter Benjamin stresses the relationship between the Verfremdungseffekt (estrangement effect) and the funny effects epic theater produces. Like alienation, laughing has a mind-opening effect.... more

In his essays on Brecht’s epic theater, Walter Benjamin stresses the relationship between the Verfremdungseffekt (estrangement effect) and the funny effects epic theater produces. Like alienation, laughing has a mind-opening effect. Indeed, Brecht himself considered the estrangement effect to be a method that is rooted in the “old artistic devices” of comedy. In this essay, I will explore further parallels between epic theater and comedy: on the one hand forms of Cool Fun (sensu Hans-Thies Lehmann), on the other hand strategies of self-distancing that enable the actor to make social gestures “quotable.” Tracing back to the debate between speech act theory and deconstruction about the “performative forces” that are at stake when theatrical practices are re-cited on stage, I introduce Derrida’s notion of “grafting” in order to demonstrate how contemporary comedy and satire are producing Cool Fun with performative gestures of quotation.

Here I bewail the slapdash and confusing way in which philosophers bandy about the word ‘incoherent’ (and ‘incoherence’ and ‘incoherently’). To some it appears to mean: inconsistent; to others: pragmatically self-defeating; and to yet... more

Here I bewail the slapdash and confusing way in which philosophers bandy about the word ‘incoherent’ (and ‘incoherence’ and ‘incoherently’). To some it appears to mean: inconsistent; to others: pragmatically self-defeating; and to yet others: nonsensical, i.e. meaningless. And often one is left guessing.

In this paper, I argue that a serious philosophical investigation of the domain of the perlocutionary is both possible and desirable, and I show that it possesses a distinctively moral dimension that has so far been overlooked. I start,... more

In this paper, I argue that a serious philosophical investigation of the domain of the perlocutionary is both possible and desirable, and I show that it possesses a distinctively moral dimension that has so far been overlooked. I start, in Section II, by offering an original characterisation of the distinction between the illocutionary and the perlocutionary derived from the degree of predictability and stability that differentiates their respective effects. In Section III, I argue that, in order to grasp the specificity of the perlocutionary, we must focus on the total speech situation, which I define as conversation. Then, in Section IV, I show that an investigation of the domain of the perlocutionary requires us to draw a conceptual distinction between recognition and acknowledgment. This distinction proves to be crucial, because the success of perlocutions normally depends on something more than what Austin calls the ‘securing of uptake’: the reciprocity condition for illocutions needs to be supplemented, in the case of perlocutions, with an analysis of what I call the ‘grammar of acknowledgment.’ Lastly, in Section V, I elaborate the notion of ‘perlocutionary responsibility,’ a specific form of moral responsibility for the consequences of utterances that are not (entirely) predictable.

Many people still believe that the idea of speech acts, and particularly of their performative function, was invented by Austin. In fact it was Adolf Reinach who introduced it some forty years before under the label “social acts”. It... more

Many people still believe that the idea of speech acts, and particularly of their performative function, was invented by Austin. In fact it was Adolf Reinach who introduced it some forty years before under the label “social acts”. It happened in his most important work The Apriori Foundations of the Civil Law. As indicated in the title, the book was an attempt to delineate the most salient a priori regularities governing the structure of our law. There are, according to Reinach, such a priori regularities in spite of massive cultural and historical differences between legal institutions, and in spite of the fact that they are, at the end of the day, our own inventions. True enough, it could happen that there were no such things as health assurances or marriages, but as soon as they are here, they are bound to obey certain laws of essence – just as are geometrical figures, sets, or numbers. So according to Reinach entities such as legal norms have a rather strange metaphysical status. On the one hand they exhibit some stable a priori structures open to a phenomenological analysis, on the other hand they are capable of coming into being and passing away, depending on our free stipulations. According to Reinach they are brought about by what he calls “social acts”. By social acts he means overtly expressed (typically verbal) actions, embedded in the network of social communication conventions. They prove to be the devices mainly responsible for the existence of a specifically human world.

In times of emotional upheaval, one's own words and/or those of others can seem strangely hollow, somehow off the mark. In extreme cases of individual-and group-level trauma, it is sometimes said that language fails us completely or that... more

In times of emotional upheaval, one's own words and/or those of others can seem strangely hollow, somehow off the mark. In extreme cases of individual-and group-level trauma, it is sometimes said that language fails us completely or that certain experiences defy articulation. This paper is concerned with why certain experiences might pose particular linguistic challenges and with what an experience of linguistic inadequacy consists of. I sketch a phenomenological approach that emphasizes (a) how words can be experienced as estranged from habitual contexts of use; and (b) how non-localized breakdowns of trust impact on the experience of communication. This aids us in the understanding experiences of trauma, while also providing wider-ranging insights into the phenomenology of language and how it relates to the habitually experienced world.

Le problème des other minds est généralement posé de la manière suivante : à quel genre de connaissance pouvons-nous prétendre au sujet de l’esprit et des expériences d’autrui ? La réponse traditionnelle est habituellement formulée dans... more

Le problème des other minds est généralement posé de la manière suivante : à quel genre de connaissance pouvons-nous prétendre au sujet de l’esprit et des expériences d’autrui ? La réponse traditionnelle est habituellement formulée dans les termes d’une opposition entre deux genres de connaissance: une connaissance infaillible, et donc, par principe soustraite au doute (la connaissance de soi) et une connaissance essentiellement faillible, car de type conjectural (la connaissance de l’esprit des autres). Une évidente proximité se manifeste dans la manière dont Wittgenstein et Austin entendent traiter ce problème sceptique : par une dissolution de l’opposition entre les deux genres de connaissance qui sous-tend sa formulation en recourant au phénomène de l’expressivité. Toutefois, Austin admet une révision possible de notre terminologie en intégrant les cas anormaux au monde familier et ordinaire de nos relations avec autrui, là où Wittgenstein insiste plutôt sur les « distorsions » que ces cas produisent par rapport à l’usage ordinaire de nos concepts. Cette différence est finalement mineure en comparaison des divergences qui apparaissent entre les deux auteurs dans les conséquences qu’ils tirent de cette dissolution. Pour Austin, la dissolution du pseudo-problème sceptique signifie sa disparition pure et simple une fois opérée la reconduction de nos concepts épistémiques à l’usage ordinaire ; pour Wittgenstein, elle signifie la reconduction à une difficulté pratique : l’étrangeté de certaines pratiques (celles, par exemple, des vendeurs de bois dans la célèbre allégorie des Cours sur les fondements des mathématiques) à laquelle répond notre propre étrangeté aux leurs. C’est l’épreuve de cette étrangeté et la difficulté corrélative à comprendre des pratiques radicalement différentes des nôtres que prétend exprimer, sans y parvenir, la formulation traditionnelle du problème sceptique.

The monograph focuses on handwritten signature as a frequently used medium, but still a neglected topic in philosophy, semiotics and media studies. The goal of the research presented in this book is to characterize the specific semantic... more

The monograph focuses on handwritten signature as a frequently used medium, but still a neglected topic in
philosophy, semiotics and media studies. The goal of the research presented in this book is to characterize the specific semantic „message“ generated by signature, a medium that can be defined as a picture of the author's name drawn manually by the author himself, which is supposed to represent the author's civil identity. The book compares three different discursive expectations from signature in psychological graphology, forensic analysis and digital cryptography. The hierarchized knowledge of these three disciplines founds contemporary Czech legal mediation politics. By means of Derrida's deconstruction, the book proposes to rethink three aporias corresponding to the three metaphysical expectations from handwritten signature, which are shared in graphology and forensic analysis. The first metaphysical expectation from signature is the ability to let us recognize the writer: signature is understood as a "natural" picture of the author's name, which has the same qualities as the author himself. The second metaphysical expectation from signature is the ability to guarantee "authenticity": signature is taken as a proof of physical contact between the signed document and the writing instrument held by the author's hand. The third metaphysical expectation from signature is the capability of eternal and perpetual manual reproduction: handwritten signature is considered to be a personal logo, a graphical convention, which guarantees the author's legal "identity". By analyzing the mentioned metaphysical expectations and aporias generated by them, the book proposes a media semiotics of signature inspired by both Derrida's deconstruction and Eco's semiotics of conventional realism. The book brings a complex philosophical research of discursive and metaphysical conditions of possibility of the handwritten signature's interpretation.

Dans ce chapitre, je soutiens qu’il est possible d’élaborer une étude philosophique cohérente du domaine du perlocutoire en tant qu’aspect essentiel de la performativité du langage, et qu’elle possède une dimension morale qui a été... more

Dans ce chapitre, je soutiens qu’il est possible d’élaborer une étude philosophique cohérente du domaine du perlocutoire en tant qu’aspect essentiel de la performativité du langage, et qu’elle possède une dimension morale qui a été ignorée jusqu’à présent. Je montre en particulier que l’étude du perlocutoire, à la différence de celle de l’illocutoire, requiert que l’on établisse une distinction conceptuelle entre deux formes de reconnaissance : ce qu’en anglais on appelle recognition, d’une part, et ce qu’on appelle acknowledgment, de l’autre. Je montre aussi qu’il y a une forme spécifique de responsabilité morale associée aux actes perlocutoires et à leurs effets (qui ne sont pas entièrement prévisibles à l’avance) : ce que je nomme « responsabilité perlocutoire ».

One of the most persistent myths about philosophies that “proceed from the ordinary” is that any kind of philosophy that emphasizes the ordinary does so in order to find true and original sense, not contaminated by “philosophy.” This is... more

One of the most persistent myths about philosophies that “proceed from the ordinary” is that any kind of philosophy that emphasizes the ordinary does so in order to find true and original sense, not contaminated by “philosophy.” This is pretty much as a far as one may come from the real significance of philosophical attention to the everyday. Indeed, if one looks at, for example, Austin and Wittgenstein, they both share the view that the everyday and the senses of our ordinary lives in language, are ever so difficult to bring into view, and it is precisely the failure to acknowledge these kinds of difficulties that often lead philosophers into philosophical problems and metaphysical speculation.
In this paper, I aim to investigate this pent-up dimension of the significance of philosophical attention to the everyday. The philosopher who most clearly have stressed that “the everyday” is something immensely difficult to get into view, is Stanley Cavell, and he has also linked the concept of the ordinary to the Freudian concept of the uncanny. The concept of the uncanny has a particular ring to it in German. Since the word “Heimlich” means “familiar” and “secret,” it suggests a fairly thick layer of connotations of the no-(longer-)secret, the disclosed, where everything is open to view, as it were. In short “Unheimlich” contains the claim that there is something uncanny about that which is open to view because it is open to view.
The second half of this paper, is a reflection upon the short stories of Raymond Carver’s. I turn to these in order to elucidate the uncanniness of the ordinary – an uncanniness that often is a part of (but certainly not the only cause of) the philosophical desire to generalize, destabilize and regiment language. I also aim to show that there is a sense in which Carver’s short stories make it possible for us to see this fact about our lives in language clearly, in a way that ordinary forms of philosophical discourse hides from view. Thereby, Carver’s short stories – being a specific form of literature – can help us see more clearly the sources of our philosophical confusions. In this respect, Carver’s short stories function, not as an exemplification of a philosophical thesis, but as (more or less) philosophical investigations their own right.

El presente ensayo tiene por finalidad mostrar los puntos más relevantes de la filosofía del lenguaje del filósofo oxoniense, John Langshaw Austin. Para este objetivo se pasará revista a sus principales contribuciones metodológicas, a... more

El presente ensayo tiene por finalidad mostrar los puntos más relevantes de la filosofía del lenguaje del filósofo oxoniense, John Langshaw Austin. Para este objetivo se pasará revista a sus principales contribuciones metodológicas, a saber: la distinción entre enunciados constatativos y realizativos, los hechos en la realidad (infortunios; cosas y palabras) y finalmente, los actos de habla, esto son, la descripción de cómo hacer cosas con palabras y cómo hacer que hayan cosas con palabras orientadas a un fin. Sobre el último punto cabe hacer el énfasis, así también de la recopilación de conferencias de 1962, How to do things with words.

Did Wittgenstein influence Austin's philosophy of language, and, if so, when and how? There are currently two schools of thought, both of which are problematic. First, many assume without evidence argument that Austin's work was heavily... more

Did Wittgenstein influence Austin's philosophy of language, and, if so, when and how? There are currently two schools of thought, both of which are problematic. First, many assume without evidence argument that Austin's work was heavily influenced by Wittgenstein. Second, many of Austin's colleagues and students claim that Austin's work developed independently of Wittgenstein. We draw on textual evidence to argue that Austin's work on language was influenced, at all stages of its development, by engagement with Wittgenstein's ideas.

The article deals with the main aspects of the theory of speech acts which are suggested by J.L. Austin and J.R. Searle. The locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts are analysed here as the components of the speech act. Heat... more

The article deals with the main aspects of the theory of speech acts which are suggested by J.L. Austin and J.R. Searle. The locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts are analysed here as the components of the speech act. Heat attention is paid to performative and declarative acts.

This brief introduction is for people who want to know the leading approaches to philosophy in the twentieth century in English-speaking countries but do not have much time to study them. The book contains texts of lectures and quizzes... more

This brief introduction is for people who want to know the leading approaches to philosophy in the twentieth century in English-speaking countries but do not have much time to study them. The book contains texts of lectures and quizzes with explained answers. By the end of this book, you will understand what analysis is and how to practice it in a philosophical way. Moreover, you will be able to talk confidently about some of the great ideas of such philosophers as L. Wittgenstein, B. Russell, G. E. Moore, A. Ayer, J. Austin, W. V. O. Quine, P. F. Strawson, and more.

BROUILLON D'UNE VERSION AUGMENTÉE D'UN ARTICLE CORÉDIGÉ AVEC M. LE PROFESSEUR X. BIOY POUR UN MANUEL DE THÉORIE DU DROIT DIRIGÉ PAR M. LE PROFESSEUR M. CARPENTIER (à venir). Quelques lignes sur l'herméneutique de P. Ricoeur et sur son... more

BROUILLON D'UNE VERSION AUGMENTÉE D'UN ARTICLE CORÉDIGÉ AVEC M. LE PROFESSEUR X. BIOY POUR UN MANUEL DE THÉORIE DU DROIT DIRIGÉ PAR M. LE PROFESSEUR M. CARPENTIER (à venir).
Quelques lignes sur l'herméneutique de P. Ricoeur et sur son intérêt pour l'étude du Droit. Ce dernier point a été développé par M. le Professeur X. Bioy dans la version finale.

-F. Di Lorenzo Ajello, Mente, azione e linguaggio nel pensiero di John R. Searle, FrancoAngeli, 1998 -J. L. Austin, Come fare cose con le parole, a cura di C. Penco e M. Sbisà, Marietti, 1987 - J. Habermas, Teoria dell’agire... more

El siglo XX será recordado por los grandes avances científicos y tecnológicos, la conquista del espacio, el uso masivo de las computadoras y las telecomunicaciones, el desarrollo de economías a escala mundial y por una notable expansión... more

El siglo XX será recordado por los grandes avances científicos y tecnológicos, la conquista del espacio, el uso masivo de las computadoras y las telecomunicaciones, el desarrollo de economías a escala mundial y por una notable expansión de la cultura y del mundo universitario; pero también, por las guerras mundiales, la amenaza de una aniquilación nuclear, los genocidios, la enorme desigualdad social, la crisis ecológica; los interrogantes y debates en torno a la genética y el futuro biológico de la humanidad y del planeta mismo. Todas estas realidades se reflejaron en la filosofía de ese siglo. Este libro hace un recorrido por las principales obras y autores que han marcado el pasado inmediato de la filosofía. Con un lenguaje accesible, se muestran las propuestas fundamentales que dieron pie al prestigio académico y social de estos pensadores, y se expone un modelo hermenéutico para enfrentarse a los textos clásicos.

This paper addresses John L. Austin’s theory of speech acts, originally introduced in How to Do Things with Words, as well as John R. Searle’s Speech Act. It begins with the description of the notion of speech acts particularly in terms... more

This paper addresses John L. Austin’s theory of speech acts, originally introduced in How to Do Things with Words, as well as John R. Searle’s Speech Act. It begins with the description of the notion of speech acts particularly in terms of its definition considering the exact limits of the discussion. It follows with the history of speech act theory which focuses on how the pioneer of this theory, Austin, came up with his ideas which then were further explored by his most famous student at Oxford University, Searle. Regarding the history, this paper brings the distinction between performatives and constatives which were introduced by Austin and then moves to his most influential work, that is, locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts. It continues with surveying the direct and indirect speech acts. Another important concept certainly ought to be mentioned is Searle’s five classifications of speech acts. Finally, to complete the discussion, this paper switches to speech events and Dell Hymes SPEAKING model.

This paper examines J.L. Austin's theory regarding speech acts, or how we do things with words. It starts by reviewing the birth and foundation of speech act theory as it appeared in the 1955 William James Lectures at Harvard before going... more

This paper examines J.L. Austin's theory regarding speech acts, or how we do things with words. It starts by reviewing the birth and foundation of speech act theory as it appeared in the 1955 William James Lectures at Harvard before going into what Austin's theory is and how it can be applied to the real world.
The theory is explained and analysed both in regards to its faults and advantages. Proposals for the improvement of the theory are then developed, using the ideas of other scholars and theorists along with the ideas of the author.
The taxonomy in this essay is vast and various concepts and conditions are introduced and applied to the theory in order for it to work. Those conditions range from being conditions of appropriateness through to general principles of communication.
In this essay utterances are examined by their propositional content, the intention of the utterance, and its outcome. By studying how utterances are formed and issued, along with looking into utterance circumstances and sincerity, one can garner a clear glimpse into what constitutes a performative speech act and what does not.
By applying the ideas of multiple thinkers in unison it becomes clear that a) any one single theory does not satisfyingly explain all the intricacies of the theory and b) most utterances which are not in the past tense can be considered to be either performative or as having some performative force.

This book offers an original reading of Michel Foucault’s project of a history of truth that showcases its philosophical and ethico-political relevance. While Foucault’s work is generally interpreted as defending an anti-normative,... more

This book offers an original reading of Michel Foucault’s project of a history of truth that showcases its philosophical and ethico-political relevance. While Foucault’s work is generally interpreted as defending an anti-normative, strongly relativist approach to traditional philosophical themes such as truth, value, or critique, this book shows, on the one hand, that his views about truth are far more complex and nuanced than generally acknowledged, and on the other, that the critical force of his genealogical and ethical writings relies on crucial, albeit mostly implicit, normative commitments. In particular, it argues that Foucault’s lifelong critical project should be revaluated in terms of his late interest in the practice of truth-telling, or parrhesia.

The aim of this paper is to study the grounds of Robert H. Robins’ claim (Robins, 1967, fourth edition) that much of contemporary pragmatics was anticipated by the great anthropologist and anthropological linguist called Bronislaw... more

The aim of this paper is to study the grounds of Robert H. Robins’ claim (Robins, 1967, fourth edition) that much of contemporary pragmatics was anticipated by the great anthropologist and anthropological linguist called Bronislaw Malinowski. He describes Austin's work on speech acts as “following the steps of Malinowski in his dictum: ‘Speech is a mode of action, not a countersign of thought’.” We want to assess the force of that claim.