Must We Mean What We Say?: A Book of Essays

I've never met Professor Stanley Cavell, and though I've emailed him he has obviously been too busy to respond. Nevertheless, in my view, his books will be read long after many philosophers of the twentieth century are buried and forgotten. The reason can be summed up in a single word: insight. Rarely has there been a more perspicuous observer of motion pictures than Professor Cavell. To read his commentary on movies is to enhance one's movie-viewing experience. He sees things that no one else sees, he sees relations that are missed by others. My enjoyment of films has been substantially augmented by my reading of Professor Cavell's essays. He has opened a new dimension for me. I am less impressed by his infatuation with performatives in his book "Must We Mean What We Say?" but, to the extent that performatives opened for him a door to performances, it was an intellectual journey well worth undertaking. We are all his beneficiaries and all in his eternal debt.