Why is saying “I promise” not true or false, like other sentences?

Accepted answer

1. Rowena Abellana 1 month ago

   ✓ Accepted answer Fellow

   Not basic at all, Fajar: this is where J. L. Austin started.

   Austin noticed that some sentences, said in the right circumstances, do something rather than describe it: "I promise", "I name this ship". He called them performatives. Say "I promise to be home by ten" seriously, to someone who hears you, and you have not reported a promise. You have made one. It did not exist before you spoke, so there is nothing for the sentence to be true of.

   What can go wrong, if not falsity? Austin says it can be "unhappy": it may misfire (said in a play, or by someone without standing) or be abused (said insincerely). An insincere promise is still a promise; that is why your mother can hold you to it.

   At midnight she is not saying the promise was false. She is saying you broke it, and perhaps that you were insincere, since promising implies you intend to keep it.

   "I will come" is a prediction and can simply turn out wrong. "I promise to come" binds you. The difference is the obligation.

   One caution: later in the same lectures Austin decided that stating is also a kind of doing, so his sharp line between "doing" and "describing" did not survive his own book.

   1. Fajar Nugroho 1 month ago

      Fellow

      Thank you both. So my promise can't be false, but the intention it implies can be missing, and that is what my mother would really be angry about. That makes sense. I will look for Austin's lectures.