J. L. Austin

John Langshaw "J. L." Austin (26 March 1911 – 8 February 1960) was a British philosopher of language and leading proponent of ordinary language philosophy, perhaps best known for developing the theory of speech acts.

Prior to Austin, the attention of linguistic and analytic philosophers had been directed almost exclusively to statements, assertions, and propositions — to linguistic acts that (at least in theory) have truth-value. This led to problems when analyzing certain types of statements, for example in determining the truth conditions for such statements as "I promise to do so-and-so."

Austin pointed out that we use language to do things as well as to assert things, and that the utterance of a statement like "I promise to do so-and-so" is best understood as doing something — making a promise — rather than making an assertion about anything. Hence the name of one of his best-known works How to do Things with Words.

Life

Austin was born in Lancaster, England, the second son of Geoffrey Langshaw Austin (1884–1971), an architect, and his wife Mary Bowes-Wilson (1883–1948). In 1922 the family moved to Scotland, where Austin's father became the secretary of St Leonard's School, St Andrews. Austin was educated at Shrewsbury School in 1924, earning a scholarship in Classics, and went on to study Classics at Balliol College, Oxford in 1929.

JL

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Jl or Jl. can refer to:

Jol

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Jól (Iceland)

Jól (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈjoːul̥]) is the term used for the Christmas holiday season in Iceland and the Faroe Islands and was originally an Old Norse religious festval, also called Yule.

Whereas the start of jól proper is announced by the chiming of church bells throughout the country in the afternoon of December 24, it is more accurate to describe the season six week event, consisting of seven key phases and dates: Aðventa (advent, the four Sundays preceding jól), aðfangadagskvöld (Yule eve), jóladagur (Yule day), annar í jólum (boxing day), gamlársdagur (old years day), nýársdagur (New Year's Day) and þrettándinn (the thirteenth, and final day of the season).

The main event in Iceland, is Christmas Eve ('aðfangadagskvöld'), when the main Yule meal is served and gifts are exchanged.

Jólasveinar

13 days before December 24 the Yule lads (jólasveinar in Icelandic) start arriving into the towns to give children that have behaved well small gifts in a shoe that has been placed by the window.