Card 6.10.2 · Root VI — The Philosophy of X Family
Speech Acts
How does saying "I promise" make a promise?
This node studies language as action — how saying something can constitute doing something rather than merely describing.
Where it sits
Under 6.10 Philosophy of language. Borders 6.7 Social ontology, 6.2 Philosophy of law, 4.2.3 Rhetoric.
The apparatus
| Level | What it is |
|---|---|
| Locutionary | The act of saying — the words and their meaning |
| Illocutionary | What is done in saying — promising, warning, ordering, naming |
| Perlocutionary | What is achieved by saying — persuading, alarming, comforting |
| Category | Example |
|---|---|
| Assertives | Stating, concluding |
| Directives | Requesting, commanding |
| Commissives | Promising, undertaking |
| Expressives | Thanking, apologising |
| Declarations | Naming, pronouncing married, resigning |
Key figures
| Figure | Dates | Tradition | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| J. L. Austin | 1911–1960 | Analytic | Performatives; the three-level analysis |
| John Searle | 1932–2025 | Analytic | Taxonomy of illocutionary acts |
| Rae Langton | b. 1961 | Analytic | Silencing as illocutionary disablement |
Connections
→ 6.10 · ↔ 6.7, 6.2, 4.2.3, 2.7 · ◇ speech act theory, silencing · ○ Modern; Table 3
→ narrower questions · ↔ questions it borders · ◇ the positions, mapped in Part III of the book · ○ the eras and comparison tables (Parts IV and V)
The full card is in the book
In The Coordinates of Thought this card goes on to a worked example that sets the answers against one case, and to where the question touches daily life — page 291.
On Coordinates of Thought
Conversations about this question in Meaning & language:
- How do you choose a translation when you can’t read the original? 6 replies
- Is the logician’s ‘if’ what a contract means by ‘if’? 6 replies
- Translating wu wei as “effortless action” does more harm than good; better to leave it untranslated 6 replies
- Twenty years of translating have convinced me that meaning is use 6 replies
- Does translating philosophy change the philosophy? 5 replies