This book provides beginners with a sense of the questions and methods that make up the philosophy of language. The first four chapters develop the idea that language is a system that allows us to exchange information with each other and the second four chapters explore the idea that language is a tool we can use to perform actions like promising insulting and socially positioning ourselves. The first part of the book traces an arc connecting questions like: What is language? Where does meaning come from? How do we use meanings to send messages to each other? The second part of the book takes up questions like: Does pornography silence women? What is offensive about slurs? What do we lose when languages go extinct? With a glossary of key terms questions for reflection and suggestions for further reading Philosophy of Language: The Basics is the place to start for anyone who is curious about how high the seas of language rise.|Philosophy of Language: The Basics | Philosophy
