A Study On Searle's Speech Act Theory

Searle (1932-) is the most influential analytical philosopher in modern America, well-known for his study of philosophy of language. Searle was one of Austin's students in Oxford when he was young. He critically inherited Austin's Speech Acts Theory, then revised and developed it. He objected to modern British and American analytic philosophy and philosophy of language, which were limited to study on propositions and words and ignored the basic questions in philosophy. Searle advocated that the basic meaning unit was speech act rather than words or sentences in communication. He originally put forward the principles which should be observed in human interaction and the significant indirect speech acts theory, and deeply investigated the relationship between speech act and meaning. He advanced the speech act theory from linguistic level to logic level. Furthermore, he applied the findings in philosophy of language into studies on mind. From then on he reversed philosophy of language to the study on the basic questions in traditional philosophy. Thus, Searle formed a comparatively complete set of speech act theory.Searle's Speech Act Theory involves philosophy, logic and linguistics. He explored speech act theory from logic angle and advanced the speech act theory from linguistic level to logic level, which had theoretical significance.