Knowledge of language as self-knowledge

In ‘Must We Mean What We Say?’, Stanley Cavell defends the method of ordinary language philosophy while arguing that the special status of philosophical claims about language arises from the fact that these statements are expressions of self-knowledge. Recently, Nat Hansen (2017) has explored Cavell’s position in relation to empirical research on linguistic usage. This paper challenges Hansen’s reading of Cavell, and presents an alternative interpretation that withstands some of Hansen’s objections. For Cavell, claims about ‘what we say’ are claims about observable matters of fact, but nevertheless they are not, and cannot ever be, observation-based claims. The point of observing ordinary usage is to remind the philosopher of what is contained within the practical mastery that she already possesses.