Published: 2019-03-29

Performativity of language and moral obligation

Karolina Rozmarynowska
Studia Philosophiae Christianae
Section: Papers
https://doi.org/10.21697/2018.54.2.14

Abstract

The topic of this paper is the role of language in creating moral obligation. Drawing upon J. Austin’s and J. Searle’s speech act theory, the author analyzes the power of words to create obligations by using the example of promise-making. She tries to identify the conditions that must be fulfilled for a specific utterance to make a subject morally obligated, and discusses the challenges to Searle’s theory. The author concludes that the performative function of the language can only explain an object dimension of promise-making . Therefore, it is crucial to take a different research perspective to reveal its subjective source.

Keywords:

performativity, language, obligation, promise, Searle John, Austin John, Reinach Adolf

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Citation rules

Rozmarynowska, K. (2019). Performativity of language and moral obligation. Studia Philosophiae Christianae, 54(2), 129–146. https://doi.org/10.21697/2018.54.2.14

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