Certainly, then, ordinary language is not the last
word. In principle it can everywhere be supplemented
and improved upon and superseded. Only remember, it
is the first word.

-- J. L. Austin, "A Plea for Excuses,"

On the eve of the battle of Shrewsbury, Shakespeare's Falstaff pauses to
remind himself that he is being pricked into battle only by honor and that
honor is only a word, "a mere scutcheon." A sensible reminder! So speaks
the common sense of the ordinary Englishman -- and English philosophy
has drawn upon that good sense ever since William of Ockham, reminding
itself time and again that, like Falstaff, we are often pricked into controversy
by mere words. Recent English philosophy echoes Falstaff's reminder and
would urge us to consider that "freedom," like "honor," is only a word, a
word whose meaning is not to be snatched out of a heaven of pure ideas or
grasped by the light of pure reason, but must be sought in the actual use of
the word in everyday talk. The point is well taken. We must surely begin with
the words we have in stock and with the meanings that we ordinarily attach
to them. Philosophical inquiry into the nature of freedom must begin from

-25-