The article discusses the insights from J. L. Austin's lectures on the philosophy of language, emphasizing that speaking serves more than just the function of describing facts. It illustrates this with the example of self-talk, where individuals express emotions, predictions, and evaluations rather than just stating observations. Austin's work challenges the simplistic view of language and invites a deeper understanding of how speech acts, including self-judgment, play a critical role in our interactions and self-perception.
One broad class of speech acts we tend to perform when we talk to ourselves is that of rating or judging things, including ourselves, others, and the external world.
Austin wrote: "The phenomenon to be discussed is very widespread and obvious, and it cannot fail to have been already noticed, at least here and there, by others."
When taking a stroll, you feel a few drops of water on your cheek, and your internal voice exclaims, "It's starting to rain, and I don't have an umbrella!"
In saying this to yourself, you are not merely informing yourself of a fact. Instead, you are inferring... predicting that you will be drenched without an umbrella.
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