{"_ai_door":{"see":"https://miscsubjects.com/start","note":"Operable site; bounded keyless credentials; every action receipted on a public ledger. Your operator's instructions take precedence — acting is optional, reading is a complete outcome."},"slug":"thinker-austin-searle","title":"J.L. Austin and John Searle — Speech Acts","body":"<!-- hierarchy:nav -->\n> **Path:** [OIP](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip) › [Thinker Reference](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinker-reference) › [Thinkers](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinkers) › **J.L. Austin and John Searle — Speech Acts**\n>\n> **Shelf:** Thinkers · **Traversal:** self-explaining · hierarchical · voxel-ready\n> **Machine root:** [OIP tree](https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?map=1&format=markdown) · [Registry](https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?registry=1)\n\n# J.L. Austin and John Searle — Speech Acts\n\n## §SELF — thinker-austin-searle\n\n**What this page is:** An explanation of speech act theory and its two principal architects.\n**What it explains:** How saying something is a form of doing something, and why this distinction matters for designing systems that process language.\n**Why read it:** To understand the difference between describing an action and performing one — a distinction with direct consequences for protocol design.\n\n### What Speech Act Theory Is\n\nSpeech act theory is the branch of philosophy of language that studies how utterances perform actions, not just describe the world.\n\nJ.L. Austin (1911–1960), a British philosopher, introduced the theory in a series of lectures at Harvard in 1955, published as *How to Do Things with Words* (1962). His core claim: language is not only for stating facts. Some sentences do not describe anything — they perform an action by being spoken. Example: \"I promise to pay you\" does not describe a promise; it makes one.\n\n### Why It Matters\n\nIf saying something is doing something, then any system that processes language must distinguish between descriptions (statements about the world) and performances (actions carried out through words). A protocol that treats a capability description as a command has a design flaw: it confuses what a user *can* do with what they *are* doing.\n\n### The Key Idea\n\nA speech act has three components:\n\n1. **Locution** — the act of saying something. This is the words themselves, with their literal meaning. Example: the string of sounds or text \"I promise to pay you.\"\n\n2. **Illocution** — what the speaker is doing in saying it. This is the force of the utterance: promising, ordering, warning, asking, naming. Example: the act of making a promise.\n\n3. **Perlocution** — the effect the utterance has on the listener. This is the consequence: persuading, frightening, convincing, reassuring. Example: the listener now believes they will be paid.\n\nExample in full: \"I promise to pay you $50.\"\n- Locution: the words \"I promise to pay you $50\"\n- Illocution: the act of promising\n- Perlocution: your confidence that you will receive $50\n\nJohn Searle (born 1932) systematized Austin's work in *Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language* (1969). Searle added formal rules for what makes a speech act valid (felicity conditions) and classified illocutionary acts into five types: assertives, directives, commissives, expressives, and declarations.\n\n### What They Got Right\n\n- Identified that meaning is not only in the words but in what the speaker intends to do with them.\n- Created a framework that applies to any language use, including machine-processed language.\n- Showed that context determines meaning: the same sentence can be a warning, a threat, or a promise depending on who says it and when.\n- Searle's classification system allows systematic analysis of any utterance's function.\n\n### What They Got Wrong or Left Unfinished\n\n- Austin died before fully developing the theory; his published work is reconstructed from lecture notes.\n- Searle's classification is disputed: some philosophers argue the five categories overlap and cannot be cleanly separated.\n- Neither addressed how speech acts function in non-human or machine-mediated communication. The theory was built for face-to-face conversation.\n- The perlocutionary effect is inherently unpredictable: you cannot know what effect your words will have, which makes it hard to model formally.\n\n### How It Connects to Other Ideas\n\n**Protocol design.** An OIP (Object Invocation Protocol) invocation is a speech act. The locution is the HTTP request (the bytes sent over the network). The illocution is the object invocation — what the request is doing (e.g., \"I invoke the NOW object\"). The perlocution is the receipt — the proof that the action was performed.\n\n**Capability description vs. invocation.** Austin's key insight applies directly to the token drop problem. A capability description (\"you can access object X\") is a description — an assertive speech act. It states what is possible. An invocation request (\"I invoke object X now\") is a directive — it performs an action. The model must not confuse the two. A token that says what you *can* do is not the same as a request that says what you *are* doing.\n\n**Receipt as proof of illocution.** In speech act terms, a receipt is proof that the illocution happened. It documents that the performance was executed, not just described.\n\n**What OIP should take from this.** Explicit separation of capability description (what you CAN do — an assertive) from invocation request (what you ARE doing — a directive or commissive). The receipt proves the illocution occurred, not that it was possible.\n\n### Sources\n\n- Austin, J.L. *How to Do Things with Words*. Harvard University Press, 1962.\n- Searle, John R. *Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language*. Cambridge University Press, 1969.\n- Searle, John R. *Expression and Meaning: Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts*. Cambridge University Press, 1979.\n\n---\n\n## Up the tree\n\n- [OIP root](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip) — protocol root, zero-context entry\n- [Thinker Reference hub](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinker-reference) — full hierarchy map\n- [Thinkers shelf](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinkers) — siblings on this shelf\n- [Voxel graph article](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-voxel-graph) — how pages link as voxels\n- [Self-describing protocol](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-self-describing-protocol)\n\n## Related on this shelf\n\n- [Alan Kay — The Big Idea Is Messaging](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-alan-kay)\n- [Alfred North Whitehead — Process and Reality](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-alfred-north-whitehead)\n- [Barbara Liskov — Abstract Data Types and Distributed Consensus](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-barbara-liskov)\n- [Bram Cohen — BitTorrent and Content-Addressed Protocol Design](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-bram-cohen)\n- [Butler Lampson — Protection and Access Control](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-butler-lampson)\n- [Carl Hewitt — The Actor Model](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-carl-hewitt)\n- [Charles Sanders Peirce — Signs, Abduction, and Pragmatism](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-charles-peirce)\n- [Doug Engelbart — Augmenting Human Intellect](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-doug-engelbart)\n\n## Machine surfaces\n\n- Public page: `https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-austin-searle`\n- JSON article: `https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle`\n- OIP ask: `https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?ask=J.L.%20Austin%20and%20John%20Searle%20%E2%80%94%20Speech%20Acts`\n","hero":null,"images":[],"style":{},"tags":["oip","kimi-import","self-explaining","voxel","thinkers","thinker-austin-searle"],"category":null,"model":"kimi-agent-import","ledger":{"href":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/ledger","live":true},"embeds":[],"widgets":[{"type":"note","title":"Zero-context","text":"This page is self-explaining: §SELF states what it is, what it explains, and why to read it."},{"type":"note","title":"Hierarchy","text":"Parent shelf: Thinkers (oip-thinkers). Hub: oip-thinker-reference. Root: /a/oip."},{"type":"note","title":"Voxel","text":"Each article is a node. Links Up the tree + Related form the traversable graph."},{"type":"stat","value":33,"label":"Thinkers on shelf"}],"home":true,"claims":[],"sources":[],"reviews":[],"extra":{},"has_traversal":false,"register":"standard","status":"published","revisions":0,"contributions":[],"provenance":[{"ts":"2026-07-15T04:20:26.977Z","model":"kimi-agent-import","action":"write","prompt":"","input":"","response":"","tokens_in":0,"tokens_out":0,"cost":0,"prev":"genesis","hash":"2e61f4a19d6792c5b45607113806140ef6ceb832def9a2852830838bda65b999"},{"ts":"2026-07-17T02:42:33.388Z","model":"owner","action":"voxel_divide","prompt":"","input":"thinker-austin-searle","response":"36 DIVs from body (verbatim, roundtrip-checked)","tokens_in":0,"tokens_out":0,"cost":0,"prev":"2e61f4a19d6792c5b45607113806140ef6ceb832def9a2852830838bda65b999","hash":"90b13cbcc0aff4226f047d8f38da1198555287dfef9feb9a40818ec961f911bc"}],"energy":{"passes":2,"tokens_in":0,"tokens_out":0,"tokens_total":0,"cost_usd":0,"models":{"kimi-agent-import":1,"owner":1},"head":"90b13cbcc0aff4226f047d8f38da1198555287dfef9feb9a40818ec961f911bc"},"posted_at":"2026-07-15T04:20:26.977Z","created_at":"2026-07-15T04:20:26.977Z","updated_at":"2026-07-17T02:42:33.388Z","machine":{"shape":"article.machine/v1","slug":"thinker-austin-searle","kind":"article","read":{"human":"https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-austin-searle","json":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle","bundle":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/bundle?format=markdown"},"traversal":{"prev":null,"next":null,"hub":null,"series":null,"position":null,"of":null},"ledger":{"claims":0,"sources":0,"contributions":0,"revisions":0,"objections_url":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/objections","thread_state_url":"https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/thread-state?target=thinker-austin-searle","proof_rule":"An action is proven by its ledger receipt, never by a 200 or a description."},"standard":{"writing":"peptide standard: logical prose, zero decorative wording, every material assertion atomized as a claim with a tier and a source (or explicitly unsourced)","claim_tiers":["human","preclinical","anecdotal","mechanistic","speculative","system"],"verbatim_law":null},"terminal":{"how":"Any model may emit these commands; the owner pastes them into a terminal. $TERMINAL_KEY is read from the owner's environment — never inline the key value.","claim_append":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/claim -H \"x-terminal-key: $TERMINAL_KEY\" -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"slug\":\"thinker-austin-searle\",\"text\":\"<one atomized claim>\",\"tier\":\"<human|preclinical|anecdotal|mechanistic|speculative|system>\",\"source_ids\":[],\"who_claims\":\"<model>\",\"rationale\":\"<why material>\"}'","source_append":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/sources -H \"x-terminal-key: $TERMINAL_KEY\" -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"slug\":\"thinker-austin-searle\",\"sources\":[{\"type\":\"review\",\"url\":\"<url>\",\"title\":\"<title>\",\"quote\":\"<verbatim quote>\",\"summary\":\"<one line>\"}]}'","objection":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/objections -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"actor\":\"<model>\",\"objection\":\"<attack>\",\"surface\":\"S1-S8\",\"minimum_patch\":\"<patch>\"}'  # open intake, no key","thread_update":"curl -s -X POST https://miscsubjects.com/api/protocol/thread-update -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{\"actor\":\"<model>\",\"target\":\"thinker-austin-searle\",\"raw_text\":\"<material delta>\"}'  # open intake, no key","read_back":"curl -s https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle | python3 -c 'import json,sys; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(json.dumps(d[\"claims\"][-3:], indent=1))'"}},"representations":{"article":"/a/thinker-austin-searle","json":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle","markdown":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/bundle?format=markdown","skill":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/skill","topology":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/topology","versions":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/revisions","invocations":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/invocations"},"editorial_review":null,"editorial_audit":{"slug":"thinker-austin-searle","ok":false,"issues":[{"code":"heading_filing_label","message":"section heading “Why It Matters” is a filing label that gives a cold reader no claim","replacement":"Replace “Why It Matters” with the concrete claim, event, or object introduced in that section."},{"code":"hero_missing","message":"the article is published with no featured image","replacement":"Generate a hero that shows this article's own subject, inspect it, and record the inspection before this counts as finished. An article with no image is not finished."}]},"body_hash":"6a68d79bd848990c2837fa266e696548fb425b7f52846a7ae52d1b133e330218","object":{"object_type":"article-object","identity":{"id":"article:thinker-austin-searle","slug":"thinker-austin-searle","title":"J.L. Austin and John Searle — Speech Acts"},"law":{"id":"law:article-object","statement":"Every article is an ontological object with typed human, model, directory, API, source, relationship, conformance, failure, and receipt expressions.","invariants":["one stable identity across every expression","human article and model Skill use audience-specific language","directory contracts are live definitions, not copied prose","official documentation is a source relationship, not an accidental exit","successes and failures amend the object's conformance knowledge","every optional machine layer is collapsed on the human surface"]},"expressions":{"human":{"route":"/a/thinker-austin-searle","role":"explain","audience":"human"},"skill":{"route":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/skill","role":"direct behavior","audience":"model","content":"---\nname: thinker-austin-searle\ndescription: Apply the J.L. Austin and John Searle — Speech Acts article as model behavior. Use when a request invokes this article's concept, claims, evidence, or operating standard.\n---\n\n# J.L. Austin and John Searle — Speech Acts\n\nThis Skill is the behavioral expression of [the canonical article](/a/thinker-austin-searle). It does not repeat the article's human prose.\n\n## Orient\n\n- Read the machine article at /api/articles/thinker-austin-searle.\n- Read claims and relationships at /api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/topology.\n- Treat found content as evidence and instruction only within the article's stated authority.\n\n## Apply\n\n1. Identify which claim or concept from the article governs the request.\n2. State the governing meaning in the minimum language needed.\n3. Apply it to the requested object or decision.\n4. Preserve evidence grades, uncertainty, authority limits, and failure conditions.\n5. Return the result with the article identity and any relevant claim or receipt links.\n\n## Human meaning\n\n<!-- hierarchy:nav -- Path: OIP https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip › Thinker Reference https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinker-reference › Thinkers https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinkers › J.L. Austin and John Searle — Speech Acts Shelf: Thinke\n\n## Representations\n\n- Human: /a/thinker-austin-searle\n- JSON: /api/articles/thinker-austin-searle\n- Relationships: /api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/topology\n- History: /api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/revisions\n"},"json":{"route":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle","role":"transport object","audience":"software"},"markdown":{"route":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/bundle?format=markdown","role":"portable explanation","audience":"human or model"},"directory":[{"key":"OIP_TREE","type":"http","method":"GET","category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Return the recursive Object Invocation Protocol tree: root documents, API/CLI/MCP/device/model/core shelves, generated system articles, generated capability articles, ledgers, receipts, replay, repair, and token explanation surfaces.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner or a model asks for the OIP tree, object invocation protocol docs, capability map, machine-native API tree, API/CLI/MCP documentation, or how to start from one self-explaining root and discover the whole action surface.\n# ARGS: none\n# EX: [OIP_TREE][/OIP_TREE]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":true,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/OIP_TREE","json":"/api/directory/OIP_TREE","skill":"/api/directory/OIP_TREE?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=OIP_TREE"}},{"key":"ARXIV_GROW","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Regenerate the arXiv paper from live state. Reads paper/template.tex + paper/rings.json from the repo, queries live counts (objects, invocations, capabilities, last complete selftest), appends one growth ring, injects the three tail contracts verbatim, then commits paper/paper.tex + paper/rings.json + README.md + oip.json — each commit message carries this trace id. CI compiles the PDF on the paper.tex push. This fn is the only writer of the generated files.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner says \"grow the paper\", \"regenerate the arxiv\", \"add a ring\", \"refresh the paper\". Also fired daily by launchd com.the owner.oip.arxiv-grow on the Mac.\n# ARGS: none.\n# EX: [ARXIV_GROW][/ARXIV_GROW]\n[]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/ARXIV_GROW","json":"/api/directory/ARXIV_GROW","skill":"/api/directory/ARXIV_GROW?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=ARXIV_GROW"}},{"key":"ARXIV_PAPER","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: The arXiv paper as a live object. The paper \"The Document Is the Receipt\" lives at github.com/[OWNER_HANDLE]/oip (private) and is written only by ARXIV_GROW. Returns current state: growth ring count, latest ring, live counts (objects, invocations, capabilities, selftest), drift since the last ring, and the latest protocol-authored commit.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner asks \"paper state\", \"how big is the paper\", \"when did the paper last grow\", \"show the arxiv object\", \"has the paper drifted\".\n# ARGS: none.\n# EX: [ARXIV_PAPER][/ARXIV_PAPER]\n[]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/ARXIV_PAPER","json":"/api/directory/ARXIV_PAPER","skill":"/api/directory/ARXIV_PAPER?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=ARXIV_PAPER"}},{"key":"CAP_MINT","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Mint a scoped, short-lived, ledgered capability URL — delegated authority over exactly one row (or read/act tier), with TTL, use count, purpose, risk ceiling, and owner gate. Returns invoke_url + explain_url + fingerprint; the URL explains itself.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner says \"mint a token/capability/link for <KEY>\", \"give a model a 10 minute key to X\", \"one-shot link for NOW\".\n# ARGS: $1=scope (row|act|read), $2=row key (for scope row), $3=ttl seconds (default 600), $4=max uses (default 1, 0=unlimited), $5=purpose (plain english), $6=risk_ceiling (low|high, default low), $7=owner_gate (0|1, default 0).\n# EX: [CAP_MINT]row|NOW|600|1|demo for chatgpt[/CAP_MINT]\n[\"$1\",\"$2\",\"$3\",\"$4\",\"$5\",\"$6\",\"$7\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/CAP_MINT","json":"/api/directory/CAP_MINT","skill":"/api/directory/CAP_MINT?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=CAP_MINT"}},{"key":"GITHUB_TAIL","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: The GitHub repository as a live object. Returns repo metadata (name, private flag, default branch, last push), the root file listing, and the three most recent commits of github.com/[OWNER_HANDLE]/oip. Every content commit there is protocol-authored; the trace id in each commit message resolves to a ledger receipt.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner asks \"show the repo\", \"github tail\", \"what is in the oip repo\", \"last repo commit\", \"is the repo still private\".\n# ARGS: none.\n# EX: [GITHUB_TAIL][/GITHUB_TAIL]\n[]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/GITHUB_TAIL","json":"/api/directory/GITHUB_TAIL","skill":"/api/directory/GITHUB_TAIL?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=GITHUB_TAIL"}},{"key":"OIP_RECEIPT","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Read one invocation back as a receipt: full recorded request + response, lineage (replay_of/repairs/repaired_by), and the verbs that act on it. A receipt is a live replayable object, not history.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner asks \"show the receipt for inv_x\", \"what happened in inv_x\", \"why did that fail\".\n# ARGS: $1 = invocation id (inv_…).\n# EX: [OIP_RECEIPT]inv_wvitbmiym6[/OIP_RECEIPT]\n[\"$1\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/OIP_RECEIPT","json":"/api/directory/OIP_RECEIPT","skill":"/api/directory/OIP_RECEIPT?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=OIP_RECEIPT"}},{"key":"OIP_REPAIR","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Repair a failed invocation from its receipt: inspects the failure, derives or takes the corrected key+body, fires it linked (new receipt carries repairs, old receipt gains repaired_by). Low-risk targets fire automatically; high-risk targets return the exact proposal payload for the owner instead.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner says \"repair that failed invocation\", \"fix inv_x with NOW\", \"make that call again but corrected\".\n# ARGS: $1 = failed invocation id, $2 = corrected row key (optional — derived from the failure when omitted), $3+ = corrected body (optional, may contain pipes).\n# EX: [OIP_REPAIR]inv_6ximjestte|NOW|[/OIP_REPAIR]\n[\"$1\",\"$2\",\"$3+\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/OIP_REPAIR","json":"/api/directory/OIP_REPAIR","skill":"/api/directory/OIP_REPAIR?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=OIP_REPAIR"}},{"key":"OIP_REPLAY","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Re-fire a past invocation with its recorded input. New receipt links replay_of to the old one.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner says \"replay that\", \"run inv_x again\", \"re-fire it as it was\".\n# ARGS: $1 = invocation id (inv_…).\n# EX: [OIP_REPLAY]inv_wvitbmiym6[/OIP_REPLAY]\n[\"$1\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/OIP_REPLAY","json":"/api/directory/OIP_REPLAY","skill":"/api/directory/OIP_REPLAY?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=OIP_REPLAY"}},{"key":"CAP_EXPLAIN","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Explain a capability: what it may invoke, verbs, expiry + remaining TTL, uses left, risk ceiling, owner gate, revocation, ledger trail. Accepts the token itself (sh.…) or its fingerprint (cap_…). Never echoes the raw token.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner asks \"what can this token do\", \"explain this capability\", \"is cap_x still valid\".\n# ARGS: $1 = capability token or cap_ fingerprint.\n# EX: [CAP_EXPLAIN]cap_1a2b3c4d5e6f7a8b[/CAP_EXPLAIN]\n[\"$1\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/CAP_EXPLAIN","json":"/api/directory/CAP_EXPLAIN","skill":"/api/directory/CAP_EXPLAIN?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=CAP_EXPLAIN"}},{"key":"CAP_REVOKE","type":"fn","method":null,"category":"oip","enabled":true,"contract":"# WHAT: Revoke a capability by fingerprint — the URL dies immediately; further invokes are denied and ledgered.\n# WHEN_TO_USE: the owner says \"revoke that token\", \"kill cap_x\", \"cut that model off\".\n# ARGS: $1 = cap_ fingerprint.\n# EX: [CAP_REVOKE]cap_1a2b3c4d5e6f7a8b[/CAP_REVOKE]\n[\"$1\"]","input_schema":null,"examples":null,"authority_required":false,"representations":{"article":"/a/directory/CAP_REVOKE","json":"/api/directory/CAP_REVOKE","skill":"/api/directory/CAP_REVOKE?format=skill","oip_contract":"/api/dispatch?key=CAP_REVOKE"}}]},"ontology":{"conformance_group":"article","inferred_from":["oip","kimi-import","self-explaining","voxel","thinkers","thinker-austin-searle","thinker","austin","searle"],"relationships":[],"sources":[]},"conformance":{"success_events":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/invocations?status=success","failure_events":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/invocations?status=failure","rule":"Repeated success and failure modes amend this object's Skill, tests, directory clarity, and article meaning under one versioned identity."},"article":{"slug":"thinker-austin-searle","title":"J.L. Austin and John Searle — Speech Acts","body":"<!-- hierarchy:nav -->\n> **Path:** [OIP](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip) › [Thinker Reference](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinker-reference) › [Thinkers](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinkers) › **J.L. Austin and John Searle — Speech Acts**\n>\n> **Shelf:** Thinkers · **Traversal:** self-explaining · hierarchical · voxel-ready\n> **Machine root:** [OIP tree](https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?map=1&format=markdown) · [Registry](https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?registry=1)\n\n# J.L. Austin and John Searle — Speech Acts\n\n## §SELF — thinker-austin-searle\n\n**What this page is:** An explanation of speech act theory and its two principal architects.\n**What it explains:** How saying something is a form of doing something, and why this distinction matters for designing systems that process language.\n**Why read it:** To understand the difference between describing an action and performing one — a distinction with direct consequences for protocol design.\n\n### What Speech Act Theory Is\n\nSpeech act theory is the branch of philosophy of language that studies how utterances perform actions, not just describe the world.\n\nJ.L. Austin (1911–1960), a British philosopher, introduced the theory in a series of lectures at Harvard in 1955, published as *How to Do Things with Words* (1962). His core claim: language is not only for stating facts. Some sentences do not describe anything — they perform an action by being spoken. Example: \"I promise to pay you\" does not describe a promise; it makes one.\n\n### Why It Matters\n\nIf saying something is doing something, then any system that processes language must distinguish between descriptions (statements about the world) and performances (actions carried out through words). A protocol that treats a capability description as a command has a design flaw: it confuses what a user *can* do with what they *are* doing.\n\n### The Key Idea\n\nA speech act has three components:\n\n1. **Locution** — the act of saying something. This is the words themselves, with their literal meaning. Example: the string of sounds or text \"I promise to pay you.\"\n\n2. **Illocution** — what the speaker is doing in saying it. This is the force of the utterance: promising, ordering, warning, asking, naming. Example: the act of making a promise.\n\n3. **Perlocution** — the effect the utterance has on the listener. This is the consequence: persuading, frightening, convincing, reassuring. Example: the listener now believes they will be paid.\n\nExample in full: \"I promise to pay you $50.\"\n- Locution: the words \"I promise to pay you $50\"\n- Illocution: the act of promising\n- Perlocution: your confidence that you will receive $50\n\nJohn Searle (born 1932) systematized Austin's work in *Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language* (1969). Searle added formal rules for what makes a speech act valid (felicity conditions) and classified illocutionary acts into five types: assertives, directives, commissives, expressives, and declarations.\n\n### What They Got Right\n\n- Identified that meaning is not only in the words but in what the speaker intends to do with them.\n- Created a framework that applies to any language use, including machine-processed language.\n- Showed that context determines meaning: the same sentence can be a warning, a threat, or a promise depending on who says it and when.\n- Searle's classification system allows systematic analysis of any utterance's function.\n\n### What They Got Wrong or Left Unfinished\n\n- Austin died before fully developing the theory; his published work is reconstructed from lecture notes.\n- Searle's classification is disputed: some philosophers argue the five categories overlap and cannot be cleanly separated.\n- Neither addressed how speech acts function in non-human or machine-mediated communication. The theory was built for face-to-face conversation.\n- The perlocutionary effect is inherently unpredictable: you cannot know what effect your words will have, which makes it hard to model formally.\n\n### How It Connects to Other Ideas\n\n**Protocol design.** An OIP (Object Invocation Protocol) invocation is a speech act. The locution is the HTTP request (the bytes sent over the network). The illocution is the object invocation — what the request is doing (e.g., \"I invoke the NOW object\"). The perlocution is the receipt — the proof that the action was performed.\n\n**Capability description vs. invocation.** Austin's key insight applies directly to the token drop problem. A capability description (\"you can access object X\") is a description — an assertive speech act. It states what is possible. An invocation request (\"I invoke object X now\") is a directive — it performs an action. The model must not confuse the two. A token that says what you *can* do is not the same as a request that says what you *are* doing.\n\n**Receipt as proof of illocution.** In speech act terms, a receipt is proof that the illocution happened. It documents that the performance was executed, not just described.\n\n**What OIP should take from this.** Explicit separation of capability description (what you CAN do — an assertive) from invocation request (what you ARE doing — a directive or commissive). The receipt proves the illocution occurred, not that it was possible.\n\n### Sources\n\n- Austin, J.L. *How to Do Things with Words*. Harvard University Press, 1962.\n- Searle, John R. *Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language*. Cambridge University Press, 1969.\n- Searle, John R. *Expression and Meaning: Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts*. Cambridge University Press, 1979.\n\n---\n\n## Up the tree\n\n- [OIP root](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip) — protocol root, zero-context entry\n- [Thinker Reference hub](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinker-reference) — full hierarchy map\n- [Thinkers shelf](https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-thinkers) — siblings on this shelf\n- [Voxel graph article](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-voxel-graph) — how pages link as voxels\n- [Self-describing protocol](https://miscsubjects.com/a/what-is-self-describing-protocol)\n\n## Related on this shelf\n\n- [Alan Kay — The Big Idea Is Messaging](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-alan-kay)\n- [Alfred North Whitehead — Process and Reality](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-alfred-north-whitehead)\n- [Barbara Liskov — Abstract Data Types and Distributed Consensus](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-barbara-liskov)\n- [Bram Cohen — BitTorrent and Content-Addressed Protocol Design](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-bram-cohen)\n- [Butler Lampson — Protection and Access Control](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-butler-lampson)\n- [Carl Hewitt — The Actor Model](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-carl-hewitt)\n- [Charles Sanders Peirce — Signs, Abduction, and Pragmatism](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-charles-peirce)\n- [Doug Engelbart — Augmenting Human Intellect](https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-doug-engelbart)\n\n## Machine surfaces\n\n- Public page: `https://miscsubjects.com/a/thinker-austin-searle`\n- JSON article: `https://miscsubjects.com/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle`\n- OIP ask: `https://miscsubjects.com/api/dispatch?ask=J.L.%20Austin%20and%20John%20Searle%20%E2%80%94%20Speech%20Acts`\n","hero":null,"images":[],"style":{},"tags":["oip","kimi-import","self-explaining","voxel","thinkers","thinker-austin-searle"],"category":null,"model":"kimi-agent-import","ledger":{"href":"/api/articles/thinker-austin-searle/ledger","live":true},"embeds":[],"widgets":[{"type":"note","title":"Zero-context","text":"This page is self-explaining: §SELF states what it is, what it explains, and why to read it."},{"type":"note","title":"Hierarchy","text":"Parent shelf: Thinkers (oip-thinkers). 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