Interpreting J. L. Austin

Interpreting J. L. Austin PDF Author: Savas L. Tsohatzidis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107125901
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
This book presents fresh perspectives on the context and significance of Austin's philosophies of language, truth, perception, and knowledge.

Revolution of the Ordinary

Revolution of the Ordinary PDF Author: Toril Moi
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022646444X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
This radically original book argues for the power of ordinary language philosophy—a tradition inaugurated by Ludwig Wittgenstein and J. L. Austin, and extended by Stanley Cavell—to transform literary studies. In engaging and lucid prose, Toril Moi demonstrates this philosophy’s unique ability to lay bare the connections between words and the world, dispel the notion of literature as a monolithic concept, and teach readers how to learn from a literary text. Moi first introduces Wittgenstein’s vision of language and theory, which refuses to reduce language to a matter of naming or representation, considers theory’s desire for generality doomed to failure, and brings out the philosophical power of the particular case. Contrasting ordinary language philosophy with dominant strands of Saussurean and post-Saussurean thought, she highlights the former’s originality, critical power, and potential for creative use. Finally, she challenges the belief that good critics always read below the surface, proposing instead an innovative view of texts as expression and action, and of reading as an act of acknowledgment. Intervening in cutting-edge debates while bringing Wittgenstein, Austin, and Cavell to new readers, Revolution of the Ordinary will appeal beyond literary studies to anyone looking for a philosophically serious account of why words matter.

How to Do Philosophy with Words

How to Do Philosophy with Words PDF Author: Jesús Navarro
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027266042
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Nowadays philosophy is characterized by such heterogeneous intellectual practices that its very unity and coherence seem endangered. What is especially disconcerting is that most authors manage to largely ignore the very existence of methodological positions radically different from their own. Fortunately, there have been exceptions, and the present volume focuses on one of them: the failed debate that took place between John Searle and Jacques Derrida. This book thoroughly analyses that exchange, contextualizing it within the respective philosophical traditions of the two thinkers, with the general aim of turning their dispute into what it was not: a respectful, sensible and fruitful controversy. This episode is thus taken as an opportunity to reflect on the peculiar nature of philosophy as an intellectual practice, and to discuss some of its main themes: language as an instrument for communication, the intentionality of consciousness, and difference as a constitutive element of every text.

Derrida/Searle

Derrida/Searle PDF Author: Raoul Moati
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231537174
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Raoul Moati intervenes in the critical debate that divided two prominent philosophers in the mid-twentieth century. In the 1950s, the British philosopher J. L. Austin advanced a theory of speech acts, or the "performative," that Jacques Derrida and John R. Searle interpreted in fundamentally different ways. Their disagreement centered on the issue of intentionality, which Derrida understood phenomenologically and Searle read pragmatically. The controversy had profound implications for the development of contemporary philosophy, which, Moati argues, can profit greatly by returning to this classic debate. In this book, Moati systematically replays the historical encounter between Austin, Derrida, and Searle and the disruption that caused the lasting break between Anglo-American language philosophy and continental traditions of phenomenology and its deconstruction. The key issue, Moati argues, is not whether "intentionality," a concept derived from Husserl's phenomenology, can or cannot be linked to Austin's speech-acts as defined in his groundbreaking How to Do Things with Words, but rather the emphasis Searle placed on the performativity and determined pragmatic values of Austin's speech-acts, whereas Derrida insisted on the trace of writing behind every act of speech and the iterability of signs in different contexts.

J. L. Austin

J. L. Austin PDF Author: Keith Graham
Publisher: Humanities Press International
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description


How Interpretation Makes International Law

How Interpretation Makes International Law PDF Author: Ingo Venzke
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019965767X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
An account of how the practice of interpretation makes international law, drawing specific attention to the increasing authority of international courts and institutions, this book analyses the role that the language plays in shaping international law. It addresses the key issue of how it contributes to the evolution of international norms.

Words in Action

Words in Action PDF Author: Richard Briggs
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 9780567083456
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
How is the biblical text understood and how does it function in the life of the reader today? Richard Briggs first provides an illuminating introduction to the nature and claims of speech art theory. This seeks to extend our understanding of both spoken and written means of communication by seeing them not as merely representational or 'reality-depicting', but as acting or causing acts to be performed through the words themselves. Briggs goes on to discuss to what extent the application of speech act theory might be helpful in the interpretation of biblical texts. In one of the first book-length explorations of this topic, he examines in detail several biblical speech acts of particular theological significance, including the confession of sin, forgiveness and teaching. Through exploring the specific ways in which the reader is drawn into the performative action of the biblical text, and how speech act theory forces the reader to look beyond language into the world which gives the language its ability to function, speech act theory is shown to offer valuable insights within today's complex hermeneutical debate. 'A very significant volume . . . ' Alan Torrance, Professor of Divinity, University of Andrews 'An excellent piece of work . . . which is thoroughly acquainted with speech act theory and takes the debate forward in a variety of creative, exegetical and theological ways.' Dr Craig Bartholomew, University of Gloucestershire

Interpreting Late Antiquity

Interpreting Late Antiquity PDF Author: Glen Warren Bowersock
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674005988
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
The era of late antiquity--from the middle of the third century to the end of the eighth--was marked by the rise of two world religions, unprecedented political upheavals that remade the map of the known world, and the creation of art of enduring glory. In these eleven in-depth essays, drawn from the award-winning reference work Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World, an international cast of experts provides essential information and fresh perspectives on this period's culture and history.

Speech Act Theory and Pragmatics

Speech Act Theory and Pragmatics PDF Author: John Searle
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400989644
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
In the study of language, as in any other systematic study, there is no neutral terminology. Every technical term is an expression of the assumptions and theoretical presuppositions of its users; and in this introduction, we want to clarify some of the issues that have surrounded the assumptions behind the use of the two terms "speech acts" and "pragmatics". The notion of a speech act is fairly well understood. The theory of speech acts starts with the assumption that the minimal unit of human communica tion is not a sentence or other expression, but rather the performance of certain kinds of acts, such as making statements, asking questions, giving orders, describing, explaining, apologizing, thanking, congratulating, etc. Characteristically, a speaker performs one or more of these acts by uttering a sentence or sentences; but the act itself is not to be confused with a sentence or other expression uttered in its performance. Such types of acts as those exemplified above are called, following Austin, illocutionary acts, and they are standardly contrasted in the literature with certain other types of acts such as perlocutionary acts and propositional acts. Perlocutionary acts have to do with those effects which our utterances have on hearers which go beyond the hearer's understanding of the utterance. Such acts as convincing, persuading, annoying, amusing, and frightening are all cases of perlocutionary acts.

The Philosophy of J. L. Austin

The Philosophy of J. L. Austin PDF Author: Martin Gustafsson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191629170
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
These new essays on J. L. Austin's philosophy constitute the first major study of his thought in decades. Eight leading philosophers join together to present a fresh evaluation of his distinctive work, showing how it can be brought to bear on issues at the top of today's philosophical agenda, such as scepticism and contextualism, the epistemology of testimony, the generality of the conceptual, and the viability of the semantics/pragmatics distinction. The contributors offer in-depth interpretations of Austin's views and demonstrate why his work deserves a more central place in mainstream philosophical discussion than it currently has. The volume also contains a substantial introduction that situates Austin's thought in its original intellectual milieu and provides an overview of the many different ways in which his ideas have influenced later developments, in philosophy and elsewhere.