Timothy Ward
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199244386
- eISBN:
- 9780191697364
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199244386.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Theology
In this chapter, speech act theory is outlined and then appropriated, especially in Wolterstorff's development of it, to provide a means by which an ontological link between God and Scripture may be ...
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In this chapter, speech act theory is outlined and then appropriated, especially in Wolterstorff's development of it, to provide a means by which an ontological link between God and Scripture may be conceived of, such that the human words of the Bible, as they mediate divine illocutionary acts, may legitimately be identified directly with the Word of God. The chapter suggests a construal of the orthodox Protestant identification of the Bible with the Word of God, that is, with God's speech, which satisfies the concerns which led Barth to reject that identification.Less
In this chapter, speech act theory is outlined and then appropriated, especially in Wolterstorff's development of it, to provide a means by which an ontological link between God and Scripture may be conceived of, such that the human words of the Bible, as they mediate divine illocutionary acts, may legitimately be identified directly with the Word of God. The chapter suggests a construal of the orthodox Protestant identification of the Bible with the Word of God, that is, with God's speech, which satisfies the concerns which led Barth to reject that identification.
Louise Antony
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199855469
- eISBN:
- 9780199932788
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199855469.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
I distinguish two types of feminist projects within philosophy. One, which I call the “practicalist” project, aims simply to solve philosophical issues of concern to feminism, with no prior ...
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I distinguish two types of feminist projects within philosophy. One, which I call the “practicalist” project, aims simply to solve philosophical issues of concern to feminism, with no prior assumptions about the suitability of particular methods or theories. Another, which I call the “replacement” project, rejects certain methods or theories as too androcentric to serve feminist goals, and aims to replace them with “feminist” alternatives. I argue that we should abandon the replacement project. Because the replacement project depends on discrediting, rather than arguing against, the philosophical views to be replaced, it is potentially disrespectful to and exclusionary of feminists who happen to support the stigmatized view. The practicalist project, on the other hand, acknowledges that different feminists may find value in different places, even in work that is compromised by sexism. I illustrate my point by critically examining Jennifer Hornsby's arguments in favor of a certain view in the philosophy of language, and against another, on the grounds that the latter stems from “malestream” thinking. I argue that Hornsby's view is no less malestream than the view she rejects. I also argue that there are strong arguments in favor of the view she rejects, arguments that are obscured by her style of attack. Finally, I argue that the view Hornsby stigmatizes is actually more useful for feminist purposes than the view she favors. Thus, I conclude, there is justification for Hornsby's claim that hers is the more “feminist” philosophy of language.Less
I distinguish two types of feminist projects within philosophy. One, which I call the “practicalist” project, aims simply to solve philosophical issues of concern to feminism, with no prior assumptions about the suitability of particular methods or theories. Another, which I call the “replacement” project, rejects certain methods or theories as too androcentric to serve feminist goals, and aims to replace them with “feminist” alternatives. I argue that we should abandon the replacement project. Because the replacement project depends on discrediting, rather than arguing against, the philosophical views to be replaced, it is potentially disrespectful to and exclusionary of feminists who happen to support the stigmatized view. The practicalist project, on the other hand, acknowledges that different feminists may find value in different places, even in work that is compromised by sexism. I illustrate my point by critically examining Jennifer Hornsby's arguments in favor of a certain view in the philosophy of language, and against another, on the grounds that the latter stems from “malestream” thinking. I argue that Hornsby's view is no less malestream than the view she rejects. I also argue that there are strong arguments in favor of the view she rejects, arguments that are obscured by her style of attack. Finally, I argue that the view Hornsby stigmatizes is actually more useful for feminist purposes than the view she favors. Thus, I conclude, there is justification for Hornsby's claim that hers is the more “feminist” philosophy of language.
Karen Zivi
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199826414
- eISBN:
- 9780199919437
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199826414.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory, Democratization
This chapter introduces readers to the key debates about the relationship between rights and democracy that are explored throughout the work as a whole as well as to the philosophical framework that ...
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This chapter introduces readers to the key debates about the relationship between rights and democracy that are explored throughout the work as a whole as well as to the philosophical framework that is developed to defend rights as a valuable language of democratic politics. Identifying several philosophical and political problems that have rendered rights a suspect language of democratic contestation, it makes the case for re-examining the relationship between rights and democracy rather than either too quickly dismissing or too heartily defending rights as consistent with democracy. The chapter draws on insights from speech act theory and democratic theory to develops a performative perspective on rights claiming and suggests that the democratic character of rights, their potential and their limits, becomes more visible when we understand rights as a performative utterances that shape as well as reflect our identity, our communities, and our understanding of politics. This chapter thus sets out the meaning of key terms, such as rights, rights claiming, and performativity, and establishes the importance of appreciating what speech act theorists call the perlocutionary rather than simply the illocutionary dimensions of speech acts.Less
This chapter introduces readers to the key debates about the relationship between rights and democracy that are explored throughout the work as a whole as well as to the philosophical framework that is developed to defend rights as a valuable language of democratic politics. Identifying several philosophical and political problems that have rendered rights a suspect language of democratic contestation, it makes the case for re-examining the relationship between rights and democracy rather than either too quickly dismissing or too heartily defending rights as consistent with democracy. The chapter draws on insights from speech act theory and democratic theory to develops a performative perspective on rights claiming and suggests that the democratic character of rights, their potential and their limits, becomes more visible when we understand rights as a performative utterances that shape as well as reflect our identity, our communities, and our understanding of politics. This chapter thus sets out the meaning of key terms, such as rights, rights claiming, and performativity, and establishes the importance of appreciating what speech act theorists call the perlocutionary rather than simply the illocutionary dimensions of speech acts.
Cornelia Pearsall
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195150544
- eISBN:
- 9780199871124
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195150544.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
Pearsall argues against the prevailing critical conception of dramatic monologists as inadvertent in their revelations and ignorant of the consequences of their speech, suggesting instead that ...
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Pearsall argues against the prevailing critical conception of dramatic monologists as inadvertent in their revelations and ignorant of the consequences of their speech, suggesting instead that dramatic monologists are highly purposeful in their speech, employing sophisticated rhetorical strategies in order to effect political and personal transformation, or “rapture.” The author divides Chapter One into two major sections. The first section, “Poetics: Persuasive Similitude,” offers a new approach to reading all Victorian dramatic monologues, identifying the trope of simile as a defining element of the genre, and arguing that monologists seek to perform a range of acts by way of their speech. The second section, “Politics: Whig Poetics,” details the relevance of Britain’s Whig Party and the furor surrounding the passage of the 1832 Reform Bill to Tennyson’s poetic development. Pearsall illuminates the ways in which Tennyson’s Whig political views were influenced by Arthur Henry Hallam, and helped shape his poetry both thematically and formally.Less
Pearsall argues against the prevailing critical conception of dramatic monologists as inadvertent in their revelations and ignorant of the consequences of their speech, suggesting instead that dramatic monologists are highly purposeful in their speech, employing sophisticated rhetorical strategies in order to effect political and personal transformation, or “rapture.” The author divides Chapter One into two major sections. The first section, “Poetics: Persuasive Similitude,” offers a new approach to reading all Victorian dramatic monologues, identifying the trope of simile as a defining element of the genre, and arguing that monologists seek to perform a range of acts by way of their speech. The second section, “Politics: Whig Poetics,” details the relevance of Britain’s Whig Party and the furor surrounding the passage of the 1832 Reform Bill to Tennyson’s poetic development. Pearsall illuminates the ways in which Tennyson’s Whig political views were influenced by Arthur Henry Hallam, and helped shape his poetry both thematically and formally.
Pieter A. M. Seuren
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199559473
- eISBN:
- 9780191721137
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199559473.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
This book argues that language is based on the human construal of reality. Humans refer to and quantify over virtual entities with the same ease as they do over actual entities: the natural ontology ...
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This book argues that language is based on the human construal of reality. Humans refer to and quantify over virtual entities with the same ease as they do over actual entities: the natural ontology of language, the book argues, must therefore comprise both actual and virtual entities and situations. The book reformulates speech act theory, suggesting that the primary function of language is less the transfer of information than the establishing of socially binding commitments or appeals based on the proposition expressed. This leads the book first to a new analysis of the systems and structures of cognitive language machinery and their ecological embedding, and finally to a reformulation of the notion of meaning, in which sentence meaning is distinguished from lexical meaning and the vagaries and multifarious applications of lexical meanings may be explained and understood. The book discusses and analyses such apparently diverse issues as the ontology underlying the semantics of language, speech act theory, intensionality phenomena, the machinery and ecology of language, sentential and lexical meaning, the natural logic of language and cognition, and the intrinsically context-sensitive nature of language—and shows them to be intimately linked.Less
This book argues that language is based on the human construal of reality. Humans refer to and quantify over virtual entities with the same ease as they do over actual entities: the natural ontology of language, the book argues, must therefore comprise both actual and virtual entities and situations. The book reformulates speech act theory, suggesting that the primary function of language is less the transfer of information than the establishing of socially binding commitments or appeals based on the proposition expressed. This leads the book first to a new analysis of the systems and structures of cognitive language machinery and their ecological embedding, and finally to a reformulation of the notion of meaning, in which sentence meaning is distinguished from lexical meaning and the vagaries and multifarious applications of lexical meanings may be explained and understood. The book discusses and analyses such apparently diverse issues as the ontology underlying the semantics of language, speech act theory, intensionality phenomena, the machinery and ecology of language, sentential and lexical meaning, the natural logic of language and cognition, and the intrinsically context-sensitive nature of language—and shows them to be intimately linked.
J. L. Austin
J. O. Urmson and G. J. Warnock (eds)
- Published in print:
- 1979
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780192830210
- eISBN:
- 9780191597039
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019283021X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This text collects all Austin’s published articles plus a new one, ch. 13, hitherto unpublished. The analysis of the ordinary language to clarify philosophical questions is the common element of the ...
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This text collects all Austin’s published articles plus a new one, ch. 13, hitherto unpublished. The analysis of the ordinary language to clarify philosophical questions is the common element of the 13 papers. Chapters 2 and 4 discuss the nature of knowledge, focusing on ‘performative utterances’. The doctrine of ‘speech acts’, i.e. a statement may be the pragmatic use of language, is discussed in Chs 6 and 10. Chapters 8, 9, and 12 reflect on the problems the language encounters in discussing actions and consider the cases of excuses, accusations, and freedom. The ‘correspondence theory’, i.e. a statement is truth when it corresponds to a fact, is presented in Chs 5 and 6. Finally, Chs 1 and 3 study how a word may have different but related senses considering Aristotle’s view. Chapters 11 and 13 illustrate the meaning of ‘pretending’ and a Plato’s text respectively.Less
This text collects all Austin’s published articles plus a new one, ch. 13, hitherto unpublished. The analysis of the ordinary language to clarify philosophical questions is the common element of the 13 papers. Chapters 2 and 4 discuss the nature of knowledge, focusing on ‘performative utterances’. The doctrine of ‘speech acts’, i.e. a statement may be the pragmatic use of language, is discussed in Chs 6 and 10. Chapters 8, 9, and 12 reflect on the problems the language encounters in discussing actions and consider the cases of excuses, accusations, and freedom. The ‘correspondence theory’, i.e. a statement is truth when it corresponds to a fact, is presented in Chs 5 and 6. Finally, Chs 1 and 3 study how a word may have different but related senses considering Aristotle’s view. Chapters 11 and 13 illustrate the meaning of ‘pretending’ and a Plato’s text respectively.
Michèle Lowrie
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199545674
- eISBN:
- 9780191719950
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545674.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The performance of Horace's Odes offers a test case for determining the interrelation between a poet's own self-definition and the actual reception of his poetry. Debate has raged in the 20th century ...
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The performance of Horace's Odes offers a test case for determining the interrelation between a poet's own self-definition and the actual reception of his poetry. Debate has raged in the 20th century over whether the language of song in this body of poetry is literal or metaphoric. Speech act theory starting with J. L. Austin offers a tool that helps understand the problematics of referentiality, but cannot in the end determine whether any particular utterance means what it says.Less
The performance of Horace's Odes offers a test case for determining the interrelation between a poet's own self-definition and the actual reception of his poetry. Debate has raged in the 20th century over whether the language of song in this body of poetry is literal or metaphoric. Speech act theory starting with J. L. Austin offers a tool that helps understand the problematics of referentiality, but cannot in the end determine whether any particular utterance means what it says.
Rae Langton
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199247066
- eISBN:
- 9780191594823
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199247066.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy
This book collects together fifteen chapters on pornography and objectification. Arguments from uncontroversial liberal premises are shown to yield controversial feminist conclusions that pornography ...
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This book collects together fifteen chapters on pornography and objectification. Arguments from uncontroversial liberal premises are shown to yield controversial feminist conclusions that pornography of a certain kind subordinates and silences women, and that women have rights against it. The arguments draw on speech act theory and pragmatics to show how such pornography may be speech that subordinates and silences. It subordinates if it is an illocution that ranks women, deprives women of powers, and legitimates violence and discrimination. It silences if it creates illocutionary disablement, preventing women's words having the intended illocutionary force. The chapters explore the idea that there is something solipsistic about pornography, in the way women are treated as things, and things are treated as women. They develop an understanding of the wider concept of objectification, which is itself shown to be solipsistic. Objectification is traditionally viewed in Kantian guise as the idea of treating someone as a thing, a mere instrument, and denying their autonomy. But it has unnoticed epistemological aspects. On a feminist conception of objectification, moral and epistemological features interact: for it is, partly, through a kind of self-fulfilling projection of beliefs and perceptions of women as subordinate that women are made subordinate and treated as things. Pornography can have an epistemological role here, shaping desires that guide wishful, oppressive belief, providing evidence confirming oppressive belief, suppressing counter-evidence, by silencing. Kant's moral philosophy threads through a number of chapters: his pessimism about some pathologies of sexual love; his optimism about love and friendship, which offer an escape route from solipsism.Less
This book collects together fifteen chapters on pornography and objectification. Arguments from uncontroversial liberal premises are shown to yield controversial feminist conclusions that pornography of a certain kind subordinates and silences women, and that women have rights against it. The arguments draw on speech act theory and pragmatics to show how such pornography may be speech that subordinates and silences. It subordinates if it is an illocution that ranks women, deprives women of powers, and legitimates violence and discrimination. It silences if it creates illocutionary disablement, preventing women's words having the intended illocutionary force. The chapters explore the idea that there is something solipsistic about pornography, in the way women are treated as things, and things are treated as women. They develop an understanding of the wider concept of objectification, which is itself shown to be solipsistic. Objectification is traditionally viewed in Kantian guise as the idea of treating someone as a thing, a mere instrument, and denying their autonomy. But it has unnoticed epistemological aspects. On a feminist conception of objectification, moral and epistemological features interact: for it is, partly, through a kind of self-fulfilling projection of beliefs and perceptions of women as subordinate that women are made subordinate and treated as things. Pornography can have an epistemological role here, shaping desires that guide wishful, oppressive belief, providing evidence confirming oppressive belief, suppressing counter-evidence, by silencing. Kant's moral philosophy threads through a number of chapters: his pessimism about some pathologies of sexual love; his optimism about love and friendship, which offer an escape route from solipsism.
Elizabeth Minchin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199280124
- eISBN:
- 9780191707070
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280124.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and ...
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Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and cognitive psychology, the book considers the speeches in Homer from two perspectives, as cognitive and as social phenomena. Part I explores the role of memory in the generation of Homer's speech forms; and the relationship between Homeric voices and the speech of the poet's everyday world. It is suggested that speech acts such as rebukes and the declining of invitations, and question forms and the pattern of hysteron-proteron so familiar to us in Homer, have their origins in pre-patterned forms of everyday speech; and that even the discourse strategies that underpin Homeric questions are recognizable to us from everyday talk. Part II formulates responses to the question of whether Homer reveals consistent differences in his representation of men's and women's talk. Men's and women's speech-habits are examined in order to detect whether there is a male preference for speech acts such as rebukes (a dominant mode) and a female preference for protests (a co-operative mode); and whether the use of information questions, directives, interruption, and even storytelling content and style can be identified with men's and women's different speaking styles. The absence of clearcut and consistent findings on this question does not diminish the value of the original question.Less
Although there has been considerable interest over time in the composition of narrative sections of the Homeric epics, there have been very few studies of the composition of the speeches and exchanges of speech that Homer depicts in his songs. This book attempts to redress the balance. Drawing on research in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and cognitive psychology, the book considers the speeches in Homer from two perspectives, as cognitive and as social phenomena. Part I explores the role of memory in the generation of Homer's speech forms; and the relationship between Homeric voices and the speech of the poet's everyday world. It is suggested that speech acts such as rebukes and the declining of invitations, and question forms and the pattern of hysteron-proteron so familiar to us in Homer, have their origins in pre-patterned forms of everyday speech; and that even the discourse strategies that underpin Homeric questions are recognizable to us from everyday talk. Part II formulates responses to the question of whether Homer reveals consistent differences in his representation of men's and women's talk. Men's and women's speech-habits are examined in order to detect whether there is a male preference for speech acts such as rebukes (a dominant mode) and a female preference for protests (a co-operative mode); and whether the use of information questions, directives, interruption, and even storytelling content and style can be identified with men's and women's different speaking styles. The absence of clearcut and consistent findings on this question does not diminish the value of the original question.
R. M. Hare
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198250326
- eISBN:
- 9780191597602
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198250320.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Philosophy of language, according to Hare, contributes significantly to ethics, because it provides a logical structure for moral thinking. Referring to J. L. Austin's theory of speech acts, Hare ...
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Philosophy of language, according to Hare, contributes significantly to ethics, because it provides a logical structure for moral thinking. Referring to J. L. Austin's theory of speech acts, Hare distinguishes two kinds or genera of speech acts, the descriptive and the prescriptive; and he also discusses Austin's distinction between illocutionary and perlocutionary acts. Moral judgements, e.g. those judgements expressed by ‘ought’, are prescriptive speech acts, but they also have a descriptive meaning. This is because moral judgements share with normative judgements the logical feature Hare calls universalizability. Alongside prescriptivity and universalizability, a third element of Hare's account of moral judgement is the identification of one's will with that of another moral agent's will in hypothetical situations.Less
Philosophy of language, according to Hare, contributes significantly to ethics, because it provides a logical structure for moral thinking. Referring to J. L. Austin's theory of speech acts, Hare distinguishes two kinds or genera of speech acts, the descriptive and the prescriptive; and he also discusses Austin's distinction between illocutionary and perlocutionary acts. Moral judgements, e.g. those judgements expressed by ‘ought’, are prescriptive speech acts, but they also have a descriptive meaning. This is because moral judgements share with normative judgements the logical feature Hare calls universalizability. Alongside prescriptivity and universalizability, a third element of Hare's account of moral judgement is the identification of one's will with that of another moral agent's will in hypothetical situations.
Jason A. Springs
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195395044
- eISBN:
- 9780199866243
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395044.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Chapter 8 employs insights from the work of pragmatist philosophers Wilfrid Sellars, Robert Brandom, Jeffrey Stout, and speech-act theory to further clarify, enrich, and expand Frei's account of ...
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Chapter 8 employs insights from the work of pragmatist philosophers Wilfrid Sellars, Robert Brandom, Jeffrey Stout, and speech-act theory to further clarify, enrich, and expand Frei's account of literal reading and the plain sense of scripture. It aims to identify and sort out the several delicately interwoven strands of normative constraint in scriptural practices which easily become tangled in Frei's latest writings. Such tangles obscure the nuances of his claims and invite charges that Frei, for instance, merely offers cultural-linguistic correction of his earlier claims about realistic narrative, and that what inevitably ensues is a textual "warranted assertability" that collapses meaning into the community of readers' uses of the text.Less
Chapter 8 employs insights from the work of pragmatist philosophers Wilfrid Sellars, Robert Brandom, Jeffrey Stout, and speech-act theory to further clarify, enrich, and expand Frei's account of literal reading and the plain sense of scripture. It aims to identify and sort out the several delicately interwoven strands of normative constraint in scriptural practices which easily become tangled in Frei's latest writings. Such tangles obscure the nuances of his claims and invite charges that Frei, for instance, merely offers cultural-linguistic correction of his earlier claims about realistic narrative, and that what inevitably ensues is a textual "warranted assertability" that collapses meaning into the community of readers' uses of the text.
Anthony Simon Laden
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199606191
- eISBN:
- 9780191741081
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199606191.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The social picture of reasoning treats reasoning as a species of conversation. This chapter characterizes and investigates casual conversation. Casual conversation is not directed at an end, and it ...
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The social picture of reasoning treats reasoning as a species of conversation. This chapter characterizes and investigates casual conversation. Casual conversation is not directed at an end, and it has no built-in stopping point. Participants in a casual conversation can be playful, but this requires them to take responsibility for what they say. Finally, while it does not have an end, what we say in conversation has a point, and it is the establishment and maintenance of our relationships through attunement. The difference between statements having a point and an end is discussed by way of Stanley Cavell’s analysis of passionate utterances and J. L. Austin’s category of perlocutionary effect.Less
The social picture of reasoning treats reasoning as a species of conversation. This chapter characterizes and investigates casual conversation. Casual conversation is not directed at an end, and it has no built-in stopping point. Participants in a casual conversation can be playful, but this requires them to take responsibility for what they say. Finally, while it does not have an end, what we say in conversation has a point, and it is the establishment and maintenance of our relationships through attunement. The difference between statements having a point and an end is discussed by way of Stanley Cavell’s analysis of passionate utterances and J. L. Austin’s category of perlocutionary effect.
J. Hillis Miller
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823225378
- eISBN:
- 9780823235391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823225378.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the speech act theory that was originally developed by J. L Austin and further developed by Jacques ...
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This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the speech act theory that was originally developed by J. L Austin and further developed by Jacques Derrida and Paul de Man. This book examines the application of the speech act theory in the characters of some notable works of fiction by Henry James. These fictions include The Aspern Papers, The Portrait of a Lady, The Golden Bowl, The Wings of the Dove, and The Sense of the Past. It concludes that the speech act theory is an indispensable tool in the reading of literary works.Less
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the speech act theory that was originally developed by J. L Austin and further developed by Jacques Derrida and Paul de Man. This book examines the application of the speech act theory in the characters of some notable works of fiction by Henry James. These fictions include The Aspern Papers, The Portrait of a Lady, The Golden Bowl, The Wings of the Dove, and The Sense of the Past. It concludes that the speech act theory is an indispensable tool in the reading of literary works.
Michèle Lowrie
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199545674
- eISBN:
- 9780191719950
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545674.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This is the first in a series of chapters on the Augustan literary epistle, where the advantages of writing come to the fore. A brief treatment of Catullus 50 outlines some of the semiotic issues of ...
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This is the first in a series of chapters on the Augustan literary epistle, where the advantages of writing come to the fore. A brief treatment of Catullus 50 outlines some of the semiotic issues of communication in absence as an introduction to the heroine epistles of Propertius and Ovid. Although separation is a source of frustration for all the literal or metaphorical lovers in these poems, their situations provide an occasion for their respective poets to explore the gap between the insufficiency of writing as a medium of communication between lovers and its great advantages for reaching a more general reader. The power of representation, of imagination, as well as concerns that anticipate modern speech act theory are addressed.Less
This is the first in a series of chapters on the Augustan literary epistle, where the advantages of writing come to the fore. A brief treatment of Catullus 50 outlines some of the semiotic issues of communication in absence as an introduction to the heroine epistles of Propertius and Ovid. Although separation is a source of frustration for all the literal or metaphorical lovers in these poems, their situations provide an occasion for their respective poets to explore the gap between the insufficiency of writing as a medium of communication between lovers and its great advantages for reaching a more general reader. The power of representation, of imagination, as well as concerns that anticipate modern speech act theory are addressed.
J. Hillis Miller
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823225378
- eISBN:
- 9780823235391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823225378.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter analyzes the use of the concepts of death in Henry James's The Wings of the Dove using the speech act theory. It suggests that all language has an ineluctable ...
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This chapter analyzes the use of the concepts of death in Henry James's The Wings of the Dove using the speech act theory. It suggests that all language has an ineluctable referential function and that reality refers to something that the activity of referring makes people presume to be real, extralinguistic. James used reality in his work as a synecdochic piece of its language and a snippet of the entire texture. This chapter also discusses the actions and speeches made by the novel's characters in relation to the concepts of death and reality.Less
This chapter analyzes the use of the concepts of death in Henry James's The Wings of the Dove using the speech act theory. It suggests that all language has an ineluctable referential function and that reality refers to something that the activity of referring makes people presume to be real, extralinguistic. James used reality in his work as a synecdochic piece of its language and a snippet of the entire texture. This chapter also discusses the actions and speeches made by the novel's characters in relation to the concepts of death and reality.
J. Hillis Miller
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823225378
- eISBN:
- 9780823235391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823225378.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter analyzes the story of a kiss in Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady using the speech act theory. The kisses in this novel involve the characters of Caspar ...
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This chapter analyzes the story of a kiss in Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady using the speech act theory. The kisses in this novel involve the characters of Caspar Goodwood and Isabel and others between women. This chapter suggests that all the kisses were used by James as efficacious speech or mute gestures that stand in the place of speech acts. They also functioned as effective performatives in lieu of speech because a kiss is a way of doing things not with words but with signs.Less
This chapter analyzes the story of a kiss in Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady using the speech act theory. The kisses in this novel involve the characters of Caspar Goodwood and Isabel and others between women. This chapter suggests that all the kisses were used by James as efficacious speech or mute gestures that stand in the place of speech acts. They also functioned as effective performatives in lieu of speech because a kiss is a way of doing things not with words but with signs.
Gail Eva
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- November 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199546695
- eISBN:
- 9780191730214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199546695.003.0007
- Subject:
- Palliative Care, Palliative Medicine Research, Patient Care and End-of-Life Decision Making
This chapter discusses the importance not only of good listening, but also of critical analysis in interpreting the meaning and effects of patient and professional narratives. The chapter begins with ...
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This chapter discusses the importance not only of good listening, but also of critical analysis in interpreting the meaning and effects of patient and professional narratives. The chapter begins with a brief account of an observed problem, and leads to a discussion regarding speech act theory. The use of narrative in understanding and evaluating the delivery of a health care service is also examined.Less
This chapter discusses the importance not only of good listening, but also of critical analysis in interpreting the meaning and effects of patient and professional narratives. The chapter begins with a brief account of an observed problem, and leads to a discussion regarding speech act theory. The use of narrative in understanding and evaluating the delivery of a health care service is also examined.
J. Hillis Miller
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823225378
- eISBN:
- 9780823235391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823225378.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter analyzes the historical narratives in Henry James's The Aspern Papers using the speech act theory. It examines the association between the history and narrative ...
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This chapter analyzes the historical narratives in Henry James's The Aspern Papers using the speech act theory. It examines the association between the history and narrative in this work and suggests that the questions about responsibility in fiction invoke performative rather than constative uses of language. This chapter also reveals that the figure of the locus standi is present in The Aspern Papers and that biographical knowledge forms an indepensable ground for measuring literature's value.Less
This chapter analyzes the historical narratives in Henry James's The Aspern Papers using the speech act theory. It examines the association between the history and narrative in this work and suggests that the questions about responsibility in fiction invoke performative rather than constative uses of language. This chapter also reveals that the figure of the locus standi is present in The Aspern Papers and that biographical knowledge forms an indepensable ground for measuring literature's value.
James Peterson and Cynthia Estremera
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199341801
- eISBN:
- 9780199355662
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199341801.003.0015
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter analyzes representations of political leadership within rap lyrics. Using speech act theory, it examines how hip hop lyrics that specifically allude to U.S. presidents have changed since ...
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This chapter analyzes representations of political leadership within rap lyrics. Using speech act theory, it examines how hip hop lyrics that specifically allude to U.S. presidents have changed since the 1992 election of Bill Clinton. Pre-Obama rap lyrics, it argues, used the symbolism of presidents to critique state-sanctioned violence against black people and to expose the disconnect between black Americans and politicians. The Obama presidency has not only increased the number of lyrics that engage the presidency, but also the many lyrics by notable emcees like Nas and Young Jeezy have shifted to express optimism, respect for, and confidence in the president. The chapter discusses Obama-inspired lyrics within the purview of black expressive history, and questions hip hop’s future ability to “speak truth to power” after Obama.Less
This chapter analyzes representations of political leadership within rap lyrics. Using speech act theory, it examines how hip hop lyrics that specifically allude to U.S. presidents have changed since the 1992 election of Bill Clinton. Pre-Obama rap lyrics, it argues, used the symbolism of presidents to critique state-sanctioned violence against black people and to expose the disconnect between black Americans and politicians. The Obama presidency has not only increased the number of lyrics that engage the presidency, but also the many lyrics by notable emcees like Nas and Young Jeezy have shifted to express optimism, respect for, and confidence in the president. The chapter discusses Obama-inspired lyrics within the purview of black expressive history, and questions hip hop’s future ability to “speak truth to power” after Obama.
J. Hillis Miller
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823225378
- eISBN:
- 9780823235391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823225378.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter analyzes the concept of community in Henry James's The Awkward Age using the speech act theory. It examines various models of community and explains how they ...
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This chapter analyzes the concept of community in Henry James's The Awkward Age using the speech act theory. It examines various models of community and explains how they relate to the one used by James in his fiction. These models include those of Georges Bataille, Maurice Blanchot, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Alphonso Lingis. This chapter also describes the alternative model of community used by Nancy in his The Imperative Community.Less
This chapter analyzes the concept of community in Henry James's The Awkward Age using the speech act theory. It examines various models of community and explains how they relate to the one used by James in his fiction. These models include those of Georges Bataille, Maurice Blanchot, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Alphonso Lingis. This chapter also describes the alternative model of community used by Nancy in his The Imperative Community.
