This is philosophy bites with me David Edmonds and me Nigel Warerton.

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J.L. 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 bites, bio-bites.

Mark Rowe.

Welcome to Philosophy Bites.

Thank you very much for writing me.

We're talking today about J.L. Austin, 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, there was very little architectural work.

The firm had basically survived by building churches, and people didn't want to build churches anymore.

So he had to find a job and he eventually found a job as burser to his mother's old school,

St. Leonard's in St Andrews, so that's where the family moved.

Austin went to the local prep school. He was clearly brilliant at classics and

...