The author, professor of philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, investigates problems in the philosophy of language from the standpoint that language is a rule-governed form of behavior. He takes as his fundamental concept the "speech act," and gives an analysis of what it is to make statements, ask questions, make promises, and give orders, in terms of rules and intentional actions performed according to rules. The results of this analysis are then applied to current problems in philosophy: reference, universals, the naturalistic fallacy, the analysis of meaning as use. Of particular concern are the fallacies which spring from the lack of a coherent theory of speech acts. (Author/AMM)