How to Do Things with Words by J.L. Austin

But rather than restating the obvious, it uncovers the situation of a statement, something often confused. The saying of “my house is blue” is true by itself only according to grammatical standards. If I say, “My house is blue,” and you check my house and it is blue, then what I have said is true. Or, it might not have that truth based on the same criteria. Meaning, if I make a statement, and it is grammatically correct, then it will have a truth somewhere outside its statement, based on a grammatical assessment of reality. A statement of truth or falsity is thought to be-able-to-be-determined-as-determined. If one poses a question and then decides on its answer, the domain is then that of true or false, depending on further development, position etc. It puts a person before a specified object and challenges the mode of the object. A question is not true or false, it is an action made on the part of a person in the mode of questioning. A naming is not true or false, it is the induction of a reality. Saying “Boo” is not true or false, it is a noise made in order to scare. Whereas a statement can be true or false, language also exists in forms that are not true or false. Saying “I am going to kill you” to the person standing next to you is not the same as saying “I am going to kill you” to the person standing next to you if you are reading a poem, etc. The sentence “I am going to kill you” written on a piece of paper and dropped off a bridge is not the same as saying “I am going to kill you” to a person standing next to you. To construct a sentence is to prepare the way for a statement which is a holding together of speaker, said, and situation. The use of language purely to describe things is questioned, as is the fact that language ever really states anything by itself. Austin begins by making a distinction in how language is understood. It is here that the first lecture begins to detail its course. I didn’t describe something, so much as make clear my intention to do something, thereby making it a reality. In promising to write the posts, I made something happen in the world. Even the first post I wrote-the one where I promised of this post and the others following-contains examples of Austin’s ideas. On any given day an encounter with some of its ideas is noticeable, and can be used to clarify misunderstandings. Information provided in these lectures is almost unavoidable. The importance of these lectures is, to me, the uncovering of language as a particular kind of instrument between people, and how literal meaning is not the only use of language. The book contains twelve lectures, delivered at Harvard University by JL Austin on the nature of language.

This is the first post concerning the book HOW TO DO THINGS WITH WORDS.

How to Do Things with Words by J.L. Austin