Skip to content

Quotes from Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language — John Searle

1932–2025 United States

← All quotes by John Searle

4 quotes

Whatever is referred to must exist. Let us call this the axiom of existence.

Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (1969)

The assertion fallacy ... is the fallacy of confusing the conditions for the performance of the speech act of assertion with the analysis of the meaning of particular words occurring in certain assertions.

Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (1969)

The general nature of the speech act fallacy can be stated as follows, using “good” as our example. Calling something good is characteristically praising or commending or recommending it, etc. But it is a fallacy to infer from this that the meaning of “good” is explained by saying it is used to perform the act of commendation.

Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (1969)

Well, what does “good” mean anyway...? As Wittgenstein suggested, “good,” like “game,” has a family of meanings. Prominent among them is this one: “meets the criteria or standards of assessment or evaluation.”

Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (1969)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: John Searle (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.