Preparatory Conditions

Definition

Felicity Conditions

References

1. John Searle and His Critics / [Ernest Lepore, Robert van Gulick (eds.)]. – Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991.

2. Searle J. R. A Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts / John R. Searle // Language, Mind, and Knowledge: Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science / [K. Günderson (ed.)]. – Minnesota: Minnesota University Press, 1975. – vol. 7. – P. 344-369.

3. Searle J. R. Expression and Meaning / John R. Searle. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979.

4. Searle J. R. Foundations of Illocutionary Logic / John R. Searle, Daniel Vanderveken. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

5. Searle J. R. Indirect Speech Acts / John R. Searle // Pragmatics: A Reader / [S. Davis (ed.)]. – Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. – P. 265-277.

6. Searle J. R. Speech Acts: An Essay in The Philosophy of Language / John R. Searle. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969.

7. Speech Acts, Meaning and Intentions: Critical Approaches to the Philosophy of John R. Searle / [Armin Burkhardt (ed.)]. – Berlin / New York, 1990.

Issues Discussed:

1. Definition

2. Preparatory conditions

3. Conditions for execution

4. Sincerity conditions

5. Felicity conditions for declarations

6. Felicity conditions for requests

7. Felicity conditions for warnings

These are conditions necessary to the success of a speech act. They take their name from a Latin root – “felix” or “happy”. They are conditions needed for success or achievement of a performative. Only certain people are qualified to declare war, baptize people or sentence convicted felons. In some cases, the speaker must be sincere (as in apologizing or vowing). And external circumstances must be suitable: “Can you give me a lift?” requires that the hearer has a motor vehicle and is able to drive it somewhere and that the speaker has a reason for the request. It may be that the utterance is meant as a joke or sarcasm, in which case a different interpretation is in order. Loosely speaking, felicity conditions are of three kinds: preparatory conditions, conditions for execution and sincerity conditions.

Preparatory conditions include the status or authority of the speaker to perform the speech act, the situation of other parties and so on.

So, in order to confirm a candidate, the speaker must be a bishop; but a mere priest can baptize people, while various ministers of religion and registrars may solemnize marriages (in England). In the case of marrying, there are other conditions – that neither of the couple is already married, that they make their own speech acts, and so on. We sometimes speculate about the status of people (otherwise free to marry) who act out a wedding scene in a play or film – are they somehow, really, married? In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare has no worries, because the words of the ceremony are not spoken on stage, and, anyway, Juliet’s part is played by a boy. (Though this may make the wedding scene seem blasphemous to some in the audience.)

In the UK only the monarch can dissolve parliament. A qualified referee can caution a player, if he or she is officiating in a match. The referee’s assistant (who, in the higher leagues, is also a qualified referee) cannot do this.

The situation of the utterance is important. If the US President jokingly “declares” war on another country in a private conversation, then the USA is not really at war. This, of course, happened (on 11 August 1984), when Ronald Reagan made some remarks off-air, as he thought, but which have been recorded for posterity: “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

One hopes that this utterance also failed in terms of sincerity conditions.

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