Must We Mean What We Say?: A Book of Essays

Stanley Cavell

Cambridge University Press, Nov 4, 2002 - History - 365 pages

Reissued with a new preface, this famous collection of essays covers a remarkably wide range of philosophical issues, including essays on Wittgenstein, Austin, Kierkegaard, and the philosophy of language, and extending beyond philosophy into discussions of music and drama. Previous edition hb ISBN (1976): 0-521-21116-6 Previous edition pb ISBN (1976): 0-521-29048-1

What people are saying

Review: Must We Mean What We Say?: A Book of Essays

User Review  - Svet888boym - Goodreads

Essential reading.

Review: Must We Mean What We Say?: A Book of Essays

User Review  - Paul - Goodreads

I read this years ago. Cavell's methods of practicing, and commenting on, ordinary language philosophy has produced some of the deepest and most engaging writing and thought that I have encountered.

Contents

• Must We Mean What We Say?: 1
• The Availability of Wittgensteins Later Philosophy: 44
• Aesthetic Problems of Modern Philosophy: 73
• Austin at Criticism: 97
• Ending the Waiting Game A Reading of Becketts Endgame: 115
• Kierkegaards On Authority and Revelation: 163
• Music Discomposed: 180
• A Matter of Meaning It: 213
• Knowing and Acknowledging: 238
• The Avoidance of Love A Reading of King Lear: 267
• Thematic Index: 357
• Index of Names: 363

About the author

Stanley Cavell was born Stanley Louis Goldstein in Atlanta, Georgia on September 1, 1926. He received a degree in music from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University. From 1953 to 1956, he was a junior fellow in Harvard's Society of Fellows. He then taught for six years at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned to Harvard to teach in 1963, becoming professor emeritus in 1997. His first book, Must We Mean What We Say?, was published in 1969. His other books included The Claim of Reason: Wittgenstein, Skepticism, Morality, and Tragedy; Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage; and Themes Out of School: Effects and Causes. He died from heart failure on June 19, 2018 at the age of 91.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Must We Mean What We Say?: A Book of Essays
• Author: Stanley Cavell
• Edition: illustrated, reprint, revised
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002
• ISBN: 0521529190, 9780521529198
• Length: 365 pages
• Subjects: History / Social History; Literary Criticism / Semiotics & Theory; Philosophy / Ethics & Moral Philosophy; Philosophy / General; Philosophy / Logic