Speech Acts, Meaning and Intentions: Critical Approaches to the Philosophy of John R. Searle

Essays tracing the development of Searle's analytical theory of the speech act, from the conception of linguistic meaning in terms of action, via the analysis of the underlying intentional structure, to the problems of the relation between mind and brain. The 15 essays cover the historical roots of the speech act theory, semantics and pragmatics, intentionality, meaning, the theory of metaphor and fictional discourse, and philosophy of mind and cognitive science. They include sometimes quite pointed criticism, and were written in the expectation that Searle would contribute replies. But he withdrew his involvement before the volume was completed. No index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR