Abstract
When my spouse once asked me ‘Where’s the milk?’ I thought that my answer ‘In the refrigerator’ was fine. Turns out, I was less helpful than I thought I was. The intended effect of my utterance turned out to be different from what it actually brought about. This feature of utterances is especially salient in discussions of perlocutionary acts, which are utterances that cause an effect in others (Austin 1975: 101). On the one hand, an utterance is produced by the speaker and so facts about the speaker’s mental life should play an important role in understanding what perlocutions are. On the other, perlocutions are what they are because they bring things about in the world, whether the speaker likes it or not.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Charles Lassiter
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lassiter, C. (2014). When Words Do Things: Perlocutions and Social Affordances. In: Garvey, B. (eds) J.L. Austin on Language. Philosophers in Depth. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137329998_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137329998_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-46078-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-32999-8
eBook Packages: Palgrave Religion & Philosophy CollectionPhilosophy and Religion (R0)