John Searle (Philosophy Now)

Direct, combative and wide-ranging, John Searle's philosophy has made fundamental and lasting contributions to thinking in language, mind, knowledge, truth and the nature of social reality. His account of language based on speech-acts, that mind is intentional, and the Chinese Room Argument, are just some of his most famous contributions to philosophical thinking. In this - the first introduction to John Searle's philosophy - Nick Fotion provides clear and assured exposition of Searles'ideas, while also testing and exploring their implications. The book begins by examining Searle's work on the philosophy of language: his analysis of speech acts such as promising, his taxonomy of speech acts and the wider range of indirect speech acts and metaphorical uses of language. The book then moves on to cover the philosophy of mind and outlines Searle's ideas on international states. It introduces his notions of'background'and'network', his claims for the often unrecognized importance of consciousness, and examines his attacks on other philosophical accounts of mind, such as materialism, functionalism and strong AI. The final section examines Searle's later work on the construction of social reality and concludes with more general reflections on Searle's position vis-a-vis ontology, epistemology, scepticism and the doctrine of'external realism'. Direct, combative and wide-ranging, John Searle's philosophy has made fundamental and lasting contributions to thinking in language, mind, knowledge, truth and the nature of social reality. His account of language based on speech-acts, that mind is intentional, and the Chinese Room Argument, are just some of his most famous contributions to philosophical thinking. In this - the first introduction to John Searle's philosophy - Nick Fotion provides clear and assured exposition of Searles' ideas, while also testing and exploring their implications. The book begins by examining Searle's work on the philosophy of his analysis of speech acts such as promising, his taxonomy of speech acts and the wider range of indirect speech acts and metaphorical uses of language. The book then moves on to cover the philosophy of mind and outlines Searle's ideas on international states. It introduces his notions of 'background' and 'network', his claims for the often unrecognized importance of consciousness, and examines his attacks on other philosophical accounts of mind, such as materialism, functionalism and strong AI. The final section examines Searle's later work on the construction of social reality and concludes with more general reflections on Searle's position vis-a-vis ontology, epistemology, scepticism and the doctrine of 'external realism'. Cover......Page 1 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Introduction......Page 8 Part I: Philosophy of language......Page 16 1. Searle's speech act theory......Page 18 2. Searle's taxonomic theory......Page 46 3. Non-standard speech acts and speech activity......Page 64 4. Metaphor and fiction......Page 82 Part II: Philosophy of mind......Page 104 5. Intentionality of mind and language......Page 106 6. Network and Background in mental states and language......Page 124 7. Rediscovering the mind......Page 136 8. Cognitive psychology and the unconscious......Page 156 Part III: Philosophy of society and other matters......Page 180 9. Social reality......Page 182 10. Institutions......Page 198 11. Ontology......Page 220 12. Truth, representation and epistemology......Page 238 13. Summing up......Page 248 Bibliography......Page 264 Index......Page 268 Annotation "This book presents a generally accurate and well-organized overview of Searle's philosophical work at a level that is suitable for upper-division undergraduates or beginning graduate students. The greatest virtue of the book is its clarity and responsible presentation of the material. There is no competing book on the market, and there will be demand due to the general interest in Searle's work not only among philosophers but also among literary theorists, art historians, and a broader range of humanist scholars."--Sean D. Kelly, Princeton University Direct, combative and wide-ranging, John Searle's philosophy has made fundamental and lasting contributions to thinking in language, mind, knowledge, truth and the nature of social reality. This title offers an introduction to Searle's philosophy, providing an exposition of Searles' ideas, while also testing and exploring their implications.