Symposium on J. L. Austin (Routledge Revivals) [Hardcover]

J. L. Austin (1911-1960) exercised in Post-war Oxford an intellectual authority similar to that of Wittgenstein in Cambridge. Although he completed no books of his own and published only seven papers, Austin became through lectures and talks one of the acknowledged leaders in what is called Oxford philosophy or ordinary language philosophy. Few would dispute that among analytic philosophers Austin stands out as a great and original philosophical genius. Three volumes of his writing, published after his death, have become classics in analytical philosophy: Philosophical Papers; Sense and Sensibilia; and How to Do Things with Words.

First published in 1969, this book is a collection of critical essays on Austins philosophy written by well-known philosophers, many of whom knew Austin personally. A number of essays included were especially written for this volume, but the majority have appeared previously in various journals or books, not all easy to obtain.

Part 1: General Introduction  1. John Langshaw Austin, a Biographical Sketch (GL Warnock)  2. Austins Philosophy (JO Urmson)  3. JL Austin, 1911-1960 (Stuart Hampshire with comments by Urmson and Warnock)  4. An Original Philosopher (David Pears)  5. Austin at Criticism (Stanley Cavell)  6. A Symposium on Austins Method (JO Urmson, WVO Quine and Stuart Hampshire)  Part 2: Philosophical Papers  7. Austins Philosophical Papers (Roderick M Chisholm)  8. Austins Philosophy of Action (LW Forguson)  9. A Plea for Linguistics (CG New)  10. Ifs and Cans (PH Nowell-Smith)  11. Austin on abilities (Irving Thalberg)  12. Assertions and Aberrations (John R Searle)  13. Mentioning the UnmentionalÃ@