J. L. Austin - Philosophical Papers

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Certainly ordinary language has no claim to be the last word, if there is such a thing.

J. L. Austin
But I owe it to the subject to say, that it has long afforded me what philosophy is so often thought, and made, barren of - the fun of discovery, the pleasures of co-operation, and the satisfaction of reaching agreement.

J. L. Austin
Faced with the nonsense question 'What is the meaning of a word?' and perhaps dimly recognizing it to be nonsense, we are nevertheless not inclined to give it up.

J. L. Austin
I feel ruefully sure, also, that one must be at least one sort of fool to rush in over ground so well trodden by the angels.

J. L. Austin
Is it true or false that Belfast is north of London? That the galaxy is the shape of a fried egg? That Beethoven was a drunkard? That Wellington won the battle of Waterloo? There are various degrees and dimensions of success in making statements: the statements fit the facts always more or less loosely, in different ways on different occasions for different intents and purposes.

J. L. Austin
A sentence is made up of words, a statement is made in words.... Statements are made, words or sentences are used.

J. L. Austin
Are cans constitutionally iffy? Whenever, that is, we say that we can do something, or could do something, or could have done something, is there an if in the offing--suppressed, it may be, but due nevertheless to appear when we set out our sentence in full or when we give an explanation of its meaning?

J. L. Austin
We become obsessed with 'truth' when discussing statements, just as we become obsessed with 'freedom' when discussing conduct... Like freedom, truth is a bare minimum or an illusory ideal.

J. L. Austin
If we say that I only get at the symptoms of his anger, that carries an important implication. But is this the way we do talk?

J. L. Austin
Ordinary language is not the last word: in principle it can everywhere be supplemented and improved upon and superseded. Only remember, it is the first word.

J. L. Austin
Like 'real', 'free' is only used to rule out the suggestion of some or all of its recognized antitheses. As 'truth' is not a name of a characteristic of assertions, so 'freedom' is not a name for a characteristic of actions, but the name of a dimension in which actions are assessed.

J. L. Austin
The Nicomachean Ethics is only intended as a guide for politicians, and they are only concerned to know what is good, not what goodness means... and in any case one can know what things are good without knowing the analysis of 'good'

J. L. Austin
Let us distinguish between acting intentionally and acting deliberately or on purpose, as far as this can be done by attending to what language can teach us.

J. L. Austin
However well equipped our language, it can never be forearmed against all possible cases that may arise and call for description: fact is richer than diction.

J. L. Austin
Why should it not be the whole function of a word to denote many things?

J. L. Austin
In one sense 'there are' both universals and material objects, in another sense there is no such thing as either: statements about each can usually be analysed, but not always, nor always without remainder.

J. L. Austin
It may justly be urged that, properly speaking, what alone has meaning is a sentence.

J. L. Austin
But suppose we take the noun 'truth': here is a case where the disagreements between different theorists have largely turned on whether they interpreted this as a name of a substance, of a quality, or of a relation.

J. L. Austin
I am not sure importance is important: truth is.

J. L. Austin
Ordinary language blinkers the already feeble imagination.

J. L. Austin
Words are not (except in their own little corner) facts or things: we need therefore to prise them off the world, to hold them apart from and against it, so that we can realize their inadequacies and arbitrariness, and can relook at the world without blinkers.

J. L. Austin
But surely, speaking carefully, we do not sense 'red' and 'blue' any more than 'resemblance' (or 'qualities' any more than 'relations'): we sense something of which we might say, if we wished to talk about it, that 'this is red.'

J. L. Austin