Written in an outstandingly clear and lively style, this 1969 book provokes its readers to rethink issues they may have regarded as long since settled.

《奥斯汀:语言现象学与哲学》主要内容包括“语言现象学”作为一种哲学方法、语言和世界、语言与行为、语言探究和知觉问题、语言探究和真理问题、语言探究和知识问题、语言探究和伦理问题、奥斯汀哲学的影响及其研究价值等。

What is language? How does it relate to the world? How does it relate to the mind? Should our view of language influence our view of the world? These are among the central issues covered in this spirited and unusually clear introduction to the philosophy of language.Making no pretense of neutrality, Michael Devitt and Kim Sterelny take a definite theoretical stance. Central to that stance is naturalism--that is, they treat a philosophical theory of language as an empirical theory like any other and see people as nothing but complex parts of the physical world. This leads them, controversially, to a deflationary view of the significance of the study of language: they dismiss the idea that the philosophy of language should be preeminent in philosophy.This highly successful textbook has been extensively rewritten for the second edition to reflect recent developments in the field.

本书收入了作者有关语言哲学的系列论文，自1984年出版后，本书成为讨论语言哲学的参照点以及相关争论的焦点，其影响已扩展到语言理论、心灵哲学和认识论。 本书讨论的核心问题是，语词为什么具有它们所确实具有的意义。作者认为，哲学上有教益的意义理论应当承认对语言理解的整体论性质，它应当能够解释一个说话者或一群说话者所有实际的和潜在的话语；而它不应当依赖于它所要解释的概念，因为它应当是独立于说话者具体的命题态度而可证实的。本书所涵盖的论题包括了真理论与意义论之间的关系、翻译、引语、信念、彻底的解释、指称、隐喻、交流等。