Quote #10

We become obsessed with 'truth' when discussing statements, just as we become obsessed with 'freedom' when discussing conduct...Like freedom, truth is a bare minimum or an illusory ideal. --Austin, Papers 130.

More from J. L. Austin

  1. But suppose we take the noun 'truth': here is a case where the disagreements between different theorists have largely turned on whether the…
  2. Like 'real', 'free' is only used to rule out the suggestion of some or all of its recognized antitheses. As 'truth' is not a name of a char…
  3. [I]f we say that I only get at the symptoms of his anger, that carries an important implication. But is this the way we do talk? --Austin, …
  4. [W]ords are not (except in their own little corner) facts or things: we need therefore to prise them off the world, to hold them apart from…
  5. Ordinary language blinkers the already feeble imagination. --Austin, Papers 68.
  6. [H]owever well equipped our language, it can never be forearmed against all possible cases that may arise and call for description: fact is…
  7. Faced with the nonsense question 'What is the meaning of a word?' and perhaps dimly recognizing it to be nonsense, we are nevertheless not …
  8. [O]rdinary language is not the last word: in principle it can everywhere be supplemented and improved upon and superseded. Only remember, i…

All J. L. Austin quotes