Speech Act and Political Freedom

Abstract

By using J. L. Austin's speech act theory, various views on the relationship between law and liberty can be categorized into two types. Illocutionary force concerns the establishment of relationships among members, whereas perlocutionary force concerns the regulation of certain actions. Phillip Pettit's idea of freedom as discursive control, illocutionary and republican by its nature, seems to be sociologically more plausible than liberal ones. However, it is freedom as noninterference that enables man to move his discursive identity from one community to another. Moreover, Pettit seems to overlook the fact that in order to keep good discursive relationships or to save “face,” we sometimes disregard meaningfulness or truthfulness in speech.