Guy Longworth on J.L. Austin and Ordinary Language

The standard set by Nigel Warburton & David Edmonds’ Philosophy Bites podcast is excellent, but I particularly recommend the latest episode. It’s a 15-minute summary of the work and legacy of J.L. Austin, as told by Guy Longworth. 

J.L. Austin (1911-1960) was a British philosopher, most known for his work on the philosophy of language. He became the White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford after the Second World War, and delivered the William James Lectures at Harvard in 1955 - two of the highest honours for a 20th-century philosopher.

Despite being considered one of a pre-eminent philosopher in his lifetime, knowledge of his work waned soon after his death. By 1970 his influence was much diminished, and my 21st-century undergraduate studies in Philosophy barely mentioned him. This absence is partly explained by a relative scarcity of published works - at his passing he had released no books and few papers. His translation of Gottlob Frege’s “Foundations of Arithmetic” remains a standard today, but Austin had published no books and few papers of his own by his death.

I commend Philosophy Bites for highlighting his much-neglected contribution to the philosophy of language.