Jl austin biography

John Langshaw Austin (more commonly known as J.L Austin) (March 28, 1911 – February 8, 1960) was a philosopher of language and the main figure in the development of what is known as ordinary language philosophy within Anglo-American analytic philosophy.

Among other things, he developed much of the current theory of what are known as "speech acts," and demonstrated with penetrating and subtle analysis that language is used for much more than making statements.

Life and work

Austin was born in Lancaster and educated at Balliol College, Oxford.

After serving in MI6 during World War II, in which service he won numerous accolades for his work in and leadership of intelligence services and his success in solving intelligence problems, Austin became White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford.

He occupies a place in philosophy of language alongside Wittgenstein in staunchly advocating the examination of the way words are used in order to elucidate meaning. Unlike