How to Do Things with Words
Second Edition
๐ About This Book
Assembles the twentieth-century philosopher's ideas and conclusions regarding issues and problems pertaining to word usage.
๐ Summary
How to Do Things with Words by J. L. Austin is a foundational text in twentieth-century philosophy, language arts, and linguistics that revolutionized how we understand the relationship between human speech and action. Originally delivered as the William James Lectures at Harvard University in 1955 and posthumously published in 1975, this concise book spans under two hundred pages to present a radical rethinking of linguistic communication. Austin challenges the traditional philosophical assumption that language is merely a tool used to describe the world, state facts, or express propositions that can be judged simply as true or false. Instead, he demonstrates that uttering words is often a form of action itself, a way of performing deeds that change social realities. The core of Austin's argument begins with a distinction between two types of utterances: constatives and performatives. Constative utterances are statements that describe a state of affairs and are traditionally evaluated on a true-or-false binary. Performative utterances, however, do not merely report or describe anything at all; rather, uttering them is the performance of an action. Classic examples include saying I do during a marriage ceremony, I bet sixpence that it will rain tomorrow, or I name this ship the Queen Elizabeth. When someone speaks these words, they are not describing an eventโthey are executing one. Austin notes that performatives cannot be true or false, but instead can succeed or fail according to specific social conventions. He terms failures in performative utterances unhappiness or infelicities, outlining the various conditions that must be met for a performative to be validly and successfully executed, such as the appropriate circumstances, authorized persons, and correct follow-through by all participants. As the lectures progress, Austin undertakes a self-correcting analytical journey, ultimately dismantling the strict dichotomy between constatives and performatives that he initially established. He realizes that many statements traditionally viewed as constative also possess a performative dimension, because stating something is itself an act of asserting, warning, or estimating. To resolve this overlap, Austin develops a comprehensive tripartite framework for analyzing any speech act: the locutionary act, the illocutionary act, and the perlocutionary act. The locutionary act is the baseline act of uttering words with a certain sense and reference, essentially the grammatical and semantic production of a meaningful sentence. The illocutionary act is what we bring about in saying something, possessing a conventional force such as informing, ordering, warning, or undertaking. The perlocutionary act involves the actual effects or consequences that the utterance brings about on the feelings, thoughts, or actions of the audience, such as persuading, alarming, or misleading someone. By breaking down language into these components, Austin provides a rigorous vocabulary for analyzing the pragmatic dimensions of communication. Austin's exploration highlights that words are intrinsically tied to social contexts, institutional rules, and interpersonal dynamics. Communication is not just a transfer of abstract information between minds, but a dynamic, rule-governed form of social interaction. His ideas laid the vital groundwork for later developments in pragmatics, speech act theory, sociology, and literary theory, influencing thinkers across the humanities and social sciences. By revealing how language actively shapes our reality, constructs our social institutions, and drives human behavior, Austin permanently altered the landscape of twentieth-century thought, leaving a legacy that continues to resonate wherever language arts and philosophy intersect.
๐ฏ Key Lessons
โ๏ธ Pros & Cons
โ Pros
Pioneered speech act theory and modern linguistic pragmatics.
Clear, engaging lecture-style prose that makes complex ideas accessible.
Offers a revolutionary framework for understanding human communication.
Brief and concise, allowing for a focused reading experience.
โ ๏ธ Cons
Some sections rely heavily on intricate classifications and terminology.
Lacks the later expansions developed by subsequent philosophers influenced by Austin.
โ๏ธ About the Author
โ FAQ
Who authored How to Do Things with Words? +
The book was written by twentieth-century philosopher J. L. Austin.
When was the book published? +
It was published in 1975, following its initial delivery as a lecture series.
What is a performative utterance according to Austin? +
It is an utterance where saying the words constitutes the performance of an action rather than merely describing a fact.
What are the three components of a speech act? +
Austin categorizes them as locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts.
How many pages long is the book? +
The book spans 192 pages.
