The philosophy of language is one of the most interesting currents born in modern philosophy and one of its great representatives is the protagonist of this article.

John Langshaw Austin is perhaps the greatest of the philosophers of language along with John Searle, Noam Chomsky and Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Born and raised in the United Kingdom, he is one of the authors, along with Searle, of the theory of speech acts, contributing the three main categories to the way we humans make our sentences.

His life, though brief, has been one of the most influential in his field. Let’s take a closer look at his interesting history throughout this biography of John Langshaw Austin .

Biography of John Langshaw Austin

The life of this philosopher of language is neither characterized by prolific publishing nor, unfortunately, by having lived many years. Even so, this British thinker knew how to make the most of his years of life, being the creator of one of the most important theories in the field of psycholinguistics , as well as having received a number of prizes.

1. First years and training

John Langshaw Austin was born in Lancaster, England, on March 26, 1911.

In 1924 he enrolled in the Shrewsbury School, where he studied the great classics of all time. He would later study classical literature at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1929.

In 1933 he received a degree in classical literature and philosophy, as well as the Gaisford Prize for Greek Prose . He finished those studies at the top of his class. In 1935 he began teaching at Magdalen College, also in Oxford. Later he would enter the field of Aristotle’s philosophy, becoming a great reference point throughout his life.

2. Formation of their thought

But among his earliest interests were not only Aristotle (later),
between 1956 and 1957 Austin was president of the English Aristotelian Society). He also addressed Kant, Leibniz and Plato. As for his more contemporary influences, we can find G. E. Moore, H. A. Prichard and John Cook Wilson.

The vision of the most modern philosophers shaped their way of seeing the main issues of Western thought , and it was from this moment on that it began to take special interest in the way human beings make specific judgments.

During World War II, Austin served his country by working in British Intelligence. In fact, it has been said that he was one of the most responsible for the preparation of D-Day, that is, the Normandy Landings .

John Austin left the army with the rank of lieutenant colonel and was awarded for his work in intelligence with the Order of the British Empire, the French Cross of War and the American Legion of Merit award.

3. Last years

After the war, Austin worked at Corpus Christi College, Oxford as a professor of moral philosophy .

During his lifetime, Austin was not particularly prolific in publishing (he only published seven articles), but this did not prevent him from becoming famous. His influence was mainly due to the fact that he gave very interesting lectures. In fact, he became famous for giving some of them on Saturday mornings, which for a teacher of that time was quite remarkable.

Thanks to this, and to his increasing popularity, John Austin was visiting in the 50’s universities like Harvard and Berkeley.

It is from these journeys that the material for writing How to do things with words emerges, a posthumous work that gathers, in essence, all his philosophy of language. Also it was during these years that he had the opportunity to meet Noam Chomsky , becoming very good friends.

Unfortunately for the world of linguistics, John Langshaw Austin died at the age of 48 on February 8, 1960, shortly after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Philosophy of language and its method

Austin felt little satisfaction with the way philosophy was being carried out in his time, especially with logical positivism. According to this author, logical positivism was responsible for producing philosophical dichotomies that, instead of making things clear and helping to understand the world around us, seemed to oversimplify reality and tended towards dogmatism.

Austin developed a new philosophical methodology, which would later lay the foundations of philosophy based on ordinary language . John Austin did not consider this method to be the only valid one, however, it did seem to bring Western philosophers closer to the resolution of such longstanding questions as freedom, perception and responsibility.

For Austin, the starting point should be to analyze the forms and concepts used in worldly language , and to recognize their limitations and biases. This would make it possible to reveal those errors that had been made since time immemorial in philosophy.

According to this author, all the distinctions and connections established by human beings are to be found in everyday language. It is as if words have evolved through natural selection, with those that are most adapted to the linguistic context surviving and those that allow us to describe the world that we humans perceive. This would be influenced by each culture, expressing itself in a different way of seeing things.

Theory of speech acts

The theory of speech acts is surely John Austin’s best known contribution to the field of philosophy of language. The theory of speech acts is a theory of how communicative intentions are manifested . In this theory, the concepts of intention and action are incorporated as fundamental elements of the uses of language.

In their time, most philosophers were interested in how formal language worked, that is, language that is formed by logical rules. An example of formal language would be the following: mammals mammal, dogs mammal, therefore, dogs are mammals. However, Austin chose to describe how everyday language is used to describe and change reality.

One of the most interesting aspects of Austin’s interest in ordinary language was the realization of how, depending on what is said, it is possible to create a situation in itself . That is, there are expressions that, when uttered, are themselves what they are describing being done. To make it easier to understand:

At a wedding, the priest who officiates at the ceremony, after the bride and groom have given each other rings, says aloud: ‘I hereby declare you man and wife’. By saying ‘I pronounce’ the priest is not describing a reality, he is creating it. Through his words he has made two people officially a married couple. And he has done this through an act of speech, in this case, a declaration.

Thus, acts of speech are understood as those linguistic expressions, both oral and written, which when uttered imply a change in reality by themselves, that is, they are what they say they are doing.

Within Austin’s theory, with speech act, a term that was originally used by John Searle and Peter Strawson, reference is made to statements that constitute, by themselves, an act that implies some kind of change as regards the relationship between interlocutors , as has been seen in the case of marriage.

Within the same theory, John Austin distinguishes between three types of acts:

1. Speech acts

They’re just saying something. This is the name given to the act of a human being saying or writing something, regardless of whether it is true or not or whether it constitutes a change in reality by itself.

2. Ilocutionary speech acts

These are acts that describe the speaker’s intention when they are enunciated . For example, a case of an illocutionary act would be that of giving a greeting, which in itself implies doing an act, which is that of congratulating.

3. Perlocutory speech acts

These are the effects or consequences that arise from the act of issuing an illocutionary act, that is, the response of having said something, whether it be a compliment, insult, order…

Are acts performed by the fact of enunciation . They reflect the result of an act enunciated by the speaker which has produced an effect on the listener.

It is not enough to recognize the speaker’s intention; the receiver must also believe it. They are not executed by the mere fact of enunciation.

Bibliographic references:

  • Austin, J.L. 1940. “The Meaning of a Word.” The Moral Sciences Club of the University of Cambridge and the Jowett Society of the University of Oxford. Printed in 1961, James O. Urmson and Geoffrey J. Warnock (eds.), Philosophical Papers (pp. 55-75). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Austin, J.L. 1946. “Other Minds.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes 20, 148-187. Reprinted in 1961, James O. Urmson and Geoffrey J. Warnock (eds.), Philosophical Papers (pp. 76-116). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Austin, J. L. 1950. “Truth.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes 24, 111-128. Reprinted in 1961, James O. Urmson and Geoffrey J. Warnock (eds.), Philosophical Papers (pp. 117-133). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Austin, J. L. 1956a. “A Plea for Excuses.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 57, 1-30. Reprinted in 1961, James O. Urmson and Geoffrey J. Warnock (eds.), Philosophical Papers (pp. 175-204). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Austin, J. L. 1956b. “Ifs and Cans.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 42, 109-132. Reprinted in 1961, James O. Urmson and Geoffrey J. Warnock (eds.), Philosophical Papers (pp. 205-232). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Austin, J. L. 1961. Philosophical Papers. J. O. Urmson and G. J. Warnock (eds.), Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Austin, J. L. 1962a. Sense and Sensibilia, G. J. Warnock (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Austin, J. L. 1962b. How to Do Things with Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Austin, J. L. 1966. “Three Ways of Spilling Ink.” The Philosophical Review 75, 427-440. Printed in 1961, James O. Urmson and Geoffrey J. Warnock (eds.), Philosophical Papers (pp. 272-287). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Austin, J. L. 1975. How to Do Things with Words, James O. Urmson and Marina Sbisa (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd edition.