Faced with the nonsense question "What is the meaning of a … - John Langshaw Austin

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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.

John Langshaw Austin

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About John Langshaw Austin

John Langshaw Austin (28 March 1911 – 8 February 1960) was an English philosopher of language and speech theorist, remembered primarily as the developer of the theory of .

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Alternative Names: J. L. Austin

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Ludwig Wittgenstein Niels Bohr John Searle Douglas Hofstadter Samuel Butler

Additional quotes by John Langshaw Austin

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

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.

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.

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 t… - John Langshaw Austin

About John Langshaw Austin

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