I chart the philosophical development of neglected figure Margaret Macdonald and situate that development in the context of mid-century analytic philosophy more broadly. I examine Macdonald’s changing attitude towards verificationism, and show that these changing views led her, in 1950 and beyond, to a very thorough appreciation of language use as capable of being employed in the execution of distinctive kinds of performative act. I compare Macdonald’s views with the far better known work of J. L. Austin, and I emphasise the extent to which she has, despite her insightful contributions, been omitted from the history of philosophy.

中文翻译：

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玛格丽特·麦克唐纳，语言哲学家


我描绘了被忽视的人物玛格丽特·麦克唐纳的哲学发展，并将这种发展更广泛地置于中世纪分析哲学的背景下。我研究了麦克唐纳对验证主义态度的变化，并表明这些变化的观点使她在 1950 年及以后对语言的使用有了非常彻底的认识，因为语言的使用能够被用来执行独特的表演行为。我将麦克唐纳的观点与 J. L. 奥斯汀 (J. L. Austin) 更为著名的著作进行了比较，并强调了尽管她做出了富有洞察力的贡献，但她在哲学史上被忽略的程度。