J. L. Austin Quotes
John Langshaw Austin was a British philosopher, the leading figure of post-war Oxford ordinary-language philosophy alongside Gilbert Ryle. As White's Professor of Moral Philosophy he conducted weekly Saturday-morning discussions whose patient attention to the ordinary uses of language reshaped post-war analytic thought. The quotes below are attributed to J. L. Austin, organized by topic.
Browse J. L. Austin by topic
J. L. Austin on Knowledge
-
“Ordinary language is not the last word, but it is the first.”
p. 185 -
Attributed to J. L. Austin:
“It seems to be too readily assumed that if we can show how a thing is done, we are debunking it.”
-
“A Plea for Excuses " (29 October 1956), address in London, published in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (1956-7)”
Going back into the history of a word, very often into Latin, we come back pretty commonly to pictures or models of how things happen or are done. These models may be fairly sophisticated and recent, as is perhaps the case with "motive" or "impulse", but one of the commonest and most primitive types of model is one which is apt to baffle us through its very naturalness and simplicity. -
“Infelicity is an ill to which all acts are heir which have the general character of ritual or ceremonial, all conventional acts.”
How to Do Things with Words (1975), edited by Marina Sbisà and , J. O. Urmson, p. 18 -
“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".”
Philosophical Papers(1979) | p. 22
J. L. Austin on Time
-
“Going back into the history of a word, very often into Latin, we come back pretty commonly to pictures or models of how things happen or are done. These models may be fairly sophisticated and recent, as is perhaps the case with "motive" or "impulse", but one of the commonest and most primitive types of model is one which is apt to baffle us through its very naturalness and simplicity.”
A Plea for Excuses " (29 October 1956), address in London, published in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (1956-7)
J. L. Austin on Truth
-
“To say something is to do something.”
P. 49 -
Attributed to J. L. Austin:
“There is more to the surface of the world than meets the philosopher's eye.”
-
Attributed to J. L. Austin:
“We can do things with words.”
-
“What is truth?' said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer.”
Truth", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society , Volume 24, Issue 1, 9 July 1950 -
“Sentences are not as such either true or false.”
Sense and Sensibilia (1962), p. 111 -
“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.”
Philosophical Papers(1979) | p. 130 -
“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.”
Philosophical Papers(1979) | p. 73
J. L. Austin on Virtue
-
“We speak of people "taking refuge" in vagueness — the more precise you are, in general the more likely you are to be wrong, whereas you stand a good chance of not being wrong if you make it vague enough.”
Sense and Sensibilia (1962), p. 125