Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 M.A. Student of Philosophy, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran
Abstract
The present paper aims to explore the views of two great continental and analytic philosophers, Paul Ricoeur and John Searle concerning the nature of text and propositions. Ricoeur first aimed to examine the nature of text and semantics in his hermeneutic study. To do this, he expanded the meaning of the text, which included writing, speaking, human acts, and even human sciences. By expanding the meaning of the text, in addition to a compromise between explanation and understanding, he tries to make a compromise between humanities and natural sciences. John Searle too as an analytic philosopher expanded the meaning of the propositions by proposing his theory of speech-act propositions. In this way, he parted himself from classic analytic philosophy and approached continental philosophy. Searle sees the fundamental role of language as the function of performing various actions. According to him, propositions and sentences have a practical aspect as well as a theoretical aspect and they have meaning with illocutionary acts. Ricoeur is trying to decode the hidden meaning in the text, as in Searle’s theory, it is the illocutionary act in the speech that includes the indirect meaning of the speech. Ricoeur points out that during the formation of speech, a conversation is first established between the person and himself and acts show the intention of the speaker, as Searle values the speaker’s intention in his speech. Ricoeur’s reliance like Searle’s reliance is on the illocutionary act. The present paper is an attempt to highlight the common points of these two philosophers: 'The concept of understanding and interpretation’, ‘semantics’, ‘linguistic communication’, and act.
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