Ordinary Language Philosophy

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2013

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Ordinary Language Philosophy, a school of thought which emerged in Oxford in the years following World War II. With its roots in the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Ordinary Language Philosophy is concerned with the meanings of words as used in everyday speech. Its adherents believed that many philosophical problems were created by the misuse of words, and that if such 'ordinary language' were correctly analysed, such problems would disappear. Philosophers associated with the school include some of the most distinguished British thinkers of the twentieth century, such as Gilbert Ryle and JL Austin.

With:

Stephen Mulhall Professor of Philosophy at New College, Oxford

Ray Monk Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton

Julia Tanney Reader in Philosophy of Mind at the University of Kent

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
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0:38.7	For more details about in our time and for our terms of use please go to BBC.co. UK slash radio for. I hope you enjoy
0:45.9	the program. Hello in the years after the Second World War a small group of British
0:51.8	philosophers emerged who were obsessed with a language, inspired
0:55.6	by the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the Austrian genius who had dominated British
0:59.7	philosophers since the 1920s, they argued that the only way to analyze philosophical problems
1:05.1	was by analyzing language. Over the next 20 years thinkers including J. Lawson
1:10.0	and Gilbert Royal turned their attention to what became called ordinary language.
1:14.0	They argued that most philosophical problems are caused by ambiguities and our use of words and
1:18.2	that these problems would disappear if only we could understand and use language more rigorously.
1:23.0	The heyday but also became known as the Oxford philosophy,
1:26.0	as Oxford philosophy, lasted only 20 years,
1:29.0	but left a lasting impression.
1:30.0	We need to discuss ordinary language philosophy and his influences are Stephen Mulhall,
1:35.5	Professor of Philosophy at New College Oxford, Ray Monk, Professor of Philosophy at the University of
1:40.8	Southampton and Julia Tani, Reader in Philosophy of Mind at the University of Kent.
	...

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