Searle: Philosophy of Language, lecture 1

John Searle

Philosophy of Language, lecture 1

UC-Berkeley Philosophy 133, Fall 2010

MP3s of the entire course:

[Lewiseaton]

lecture 1 Philosophy of Language – Distinctions and Overview
lecture 2 Use & Mention, J.L. Austin’s Speech Act Theory
lecture 3 Speech Acts – Twelve Features, Five Classifications
lecture 4 Classifications, cont., Grice’s Theory of Meaning
lecture 5 Grice, cont., Some Counterexamples, Intentionality
lecture 6 Expressibility, Rules, Representation, Intentional Acts
lecture 7 Theory of Human Action, Freedom of Will
lecture 8 Performatives, Assertives, Directives, Commisives
lecture 9 Review of Speech Act Taxonomy, Frege
lecture 10 Russell’s Paradox, Frege’s ‘Sense and Reference’
lecture 11 Frege, cont., Extensionality vs Intensionality, Russell
lecture 12 Russell’s ‘On Denoting’, Strawson’s ‘On Referring’
lecture 13 Review of Frege, Russell & Strawson, Twin-Earth
lecture 14 Russell vs Strawson, Indirect Speech Acts, Indexicals
lecture 15 Cluster theory & Kripke, Externalism vs Internalism
lecture 16 Externalism vs Internalism, cont., Indexicality, Truth
lecture 17 Theories of Truth, Objections to Correspondence
lecture 18 Answers to Objections to Correspondence Theory
lecture 19 Relativism, Solipsism, Background Capacities & Rules
lecture 20 Anthropology, Fiction, Non-explicitness, Commitments
lecture 21 Fiction cont., Grice’s Maxims, Indirect Speech Acts
lecture 22 Indirect Speech Acts, cont., Metaphor
lecture 23 Radical Contextualism, Metaphor, Quine’s Two Dogmas
lecture 24 Naturalism, Quine on Indeterminacy, Chomsky
lecture 25 Chomsky cont., Pictorial Representation
lecture 26 Picturing, cont., Performatives, Human Institutions
lecture 27 Social Construction, Externalism, Proper Names
lecture 28 Philosophy of Language in Wider Context, Metaphor

[PCHr]

I have completely translated into my native language his lecture's transcripts on mind phil. now starting this course.

[PrimitiveBaroque]

Love John Searle. Ever since I read his book "Speech Acts" I've been hooked on his clarity.

[navis]

Excellent resource here on Youtube! Thanks to whoever made this possible.

[TimV-tx]

34:47 Recursive rules
44:50 learning overgeneralization

[NousProductions]

Thanks for posting this great course. John Searle is the man.

[Daft_Sage]

The first 10 minutes could be summed up as models vs truth (analytics cs synthetics). Language and mathematics are models, while empirical data are truths. Then he moves on to fact vs opinion. Then implicit meaning vs literal or precise meaning. Recursion, any Noun + verb phrase can be applied to any other sentence, which could itself be a noun + verb phrase applied to any other sentence with the help of a relative clause; who, whom, whose, that, which (e.x. (Jamie thinks that (Dorothy wants to live in a house (which is by the beach))). Compositionality just seems like syntax+semantics (2+2=4). Performative utterance, command/perform [felicitous vs infelicitous] vs constative utterance, description [true or false]. Performing the statement vs the statement is a performance (constative vs performative). Speaker meaning vs sentence meaning.

[WisdomisPower-inminute-dnno]

The way you approach these subjects is intriguing and resonates with the themes I explore in my videos.

[leonardstilwell]

This dude is great ... love Searle.  So clear; so concise.  Does what a good philosopher raised in the analytic tradition should do.  I was particularly intrigued by his quick allusions to Chomsky's defense for universal grammar and its centrality to our humanity.  How is it children so early, quickly and universally acquire, in particular, the complex formal structure of their native language, but are unable to acquire any other (e.g., axiomatic set theory)?  I had never thought of it in that way ... mind BLOWN!

[gvardon]

As Professor Searle illustrates philosophy develops cultural sophistication. To state this differently one becomes more cultured by studying philosophy.

[stephenchavura]

Looking forward to working through these lectures over the coming months

[baeksoltang]

It's the first time I get to listen to his lectures, not via text. I am not blaming one for this, but it's kinda funny to hear him calling out a student not to flap the laptop.

[rekhatripathi]

Completed his "Mind", it's great .

[alute]

Indirect speech act (request )
Beyond semantic meaning
Speaker meaning exceeds semantic meaning(of syntactical form)
Example
1 request
Can you pass me the Salt
Do you know where
metaphor
Sentence meaning & speaker meaning can come apart
Pay attention to intonation
It's traditional rhetorical devices
Understatement & hyperbole
Metaphor metanymy, Annika

8;46
Everything dualism in mind
Functionalism behaviorlism
Ferge 2nd best German after Kant
Logic & philosopher of language
9:00 simple argument
9:10 done in philosophical literature
Placing issues in some historical context
Kant distinction
1. Synthetic statement
T f in virtue to facts world
2. Analytic statement
T f in virtue to meanings of words themselves
Analytic stmts
All bA are unmarried 2+2=4
Synthetic stmt of sth beyond meaning facts in world
This's related to propositions
Known after investigation using experiences
Apriori known beforehand
Bachelors are unmarried
2+2=4
Prior to experience
A Posteriori
Bachelor's wear blue jeans
Alcoholincidents in Berkeley has increased students increased

Needs experiment to experience
That's an epistemic distinction (on the how the way things are made)
How propositions are known
Analytic (simple) propositions known a priori but synthetic known posteriori
Kant deal finding propositions that are synthetic & known apriori
Necessary & contingent propositions
Heyday Analytic phiilosophy these were 3 different ways marking same distinction
As far as necessary because their necessity derives from the meanings
Meaning is truth
16:36 Beethoven is better than average musician

[sergiogarrido]

Does anyone have the assigned readings for the whole course? Thanks in advance!

[die_schlechtere_Milch]

does anybody know the syllabus of this lecture?

[FeaturingtheSun]

Did it ever cross your mind that the person posting wrote like that on purpose on a video concerning language in which Searle made a joke about a guy who couldn't form grammatically correct sentences?

[kazikamruzzaman]

Philosophy is the real Knowledge about Language!

[manavkhatarkar]

He is so articulate and comprehensible as opposed to other lecturers. 22:35 😂

[boboauyeung]

Any recommending reading for this course?