Philosopher John Searle as a guest at the GeKKo doctoral program

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One of the most important philosophers of our time, the US-American Prof. Dr. John Searle, visited the University of Kassel on May 29 and 30, 2012. In a public lecture on May 30, he spoke on the subject of "Language and Social Ontology". John Searle, who came to Kassel at the invitation of German linguist Prof. Dr. Andreas Gardt, was also a guest of the GeKKo doctoral program at the University of Kassel and discussed his theses in a workshop with the students.

Photos: A. Czajkowska

    Prof. Dr. John Searle: About the person

    by Andreas Gardt

    Searle, who teaches at Berkeley, has made a name for himself in the fields of philosophy of language, philosophy of mind and the ontology of social phenomena. He made a name for himself in 1969 with his work "Speechacts", in which he defines the utterances we make not as mere descriptions of reality, but as actions between people. A sentence such as "It's eight o'clock" is never a mere statement, but always expresses an intention that the speaker directs at the person being addressed: A warning to hurry up or, depending on the situation, a request to take your time. Speaking is therefore more than the mere utterance of words and becomes a form of interpersonal action.

    In the course of his career, John Searle took part in a number of key debates that had an impact beyond (language) philosophy. For example, he declared it fundamentally impossible to build thinking computers because they lacked the property of intentionality, i.e. the targeted reference to facts in the world. In recent years, the question of the social construction of reality has increasingly taken center stage for him. Here, too, language plays a central role: all of our social institutions, from our legal system and currency to something as mundane as a cocktail party, can only come about because they are determined by linguistic acts to become what they ultimately are for us.

    In all of this, John Searle maintains a robust realism that leaves no doubt about the existence of a reality not mediated by language, a position that has also earned him numerous opponents in the contemporary intellectual landscape, which emphasizes the constructedness of all our approaches to the world.

    Note: Allegations of sexual assault have been made against John Searle during his time at the University of Berkeley, see for example Wikipedia or the press.