J.L.Austin was the best known exponent of what came to be known as Ordinary Language Philosophy. He was also a war hero. In this episode of the Bio Bites strand of the Philosophy Bites podcast David Edmonds discusses Austin's life and work with his biographer Mark Rowe.
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Edmonds, and me, Nigel Warburton.
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Jl Austin exercised a huge influence over Oxford philosophy in the post war period.
He was a leading exponent of what's usually known as ordinary language philosophy, an approach to the subject that begins from examining in detail the particular ways in which we speak.
His importance, however, was not just as a philosopher.
His biographer Mark Rowe has shown that Austin played a pivotal role in the Second World War as a brilliant intelligence officer.
David Edmonds discusses Austin with Mark Rowe in this episode of the biographical strand of Philosophy biobytes.
Mark Rowe.
Welcome to philosophy bites.
Thank you very much for inviting me.
We're talking today about JL Austen, a 20th century british philosopher.
Just give me a thumbnail sketch of his life.
So Austin was born in Lancaster in 1911 into a family of architects.
The family suffered quite badly in the First World War.
Both his mother's siblings were killed and his father lost all his friends.
And when the father came back from the war war, there was very little architectural work.