A variety of contemporary philosophical approaches to pragmatics focus on semantics. For example, Brandom focuses on linguistic meaning (albeit from a pragmatic perspective).
Others take a more comprehensive approach to pragmatics, like relevance theory, which seeks to explore the understanding of the processes that lead to an utterance being made by a hearer. This approach tends to ignore other elements of pragmatics, for instance, epistemic discussions about truth.What is pragmatism, exactly?
Pragmatism is a philosophical perspective that offers an alternative to continental and analytic philosophy. It was initiated by Charles Sanders Peirce and extended by his colleague and friend William James, and later developed by Josiah Royce. It had a significant impact on areas of inquiry that span from philosophy of science to theology however, it also found a place within the philosophy of ethics as well as philosophy of language, aesthetics, and social theory. The pragmatist traditions continues to develop.
The pragmatic maxim is at the center of classical pragmatics. It is a rule that clarifies the meaning of hypotheses by examining their 'practical implications' or their implications for the experience of particular situations. This creates an epistemological view that is a type of 'inquiry epistemology' based on inquiry, and an anti Cartesian explanation of the norms that govern inquiry. The early pragmatists largely split over the question of whether pragmatism can think of itself as a scientific philosophy that focuses on a monism of truth (following Peirce), or a broad-based alethic pluralism (James and Dewey).
A major concern for pragmatist philosophers is understanding what knowledge actually is. Rorty is one of the pragmatists who is skeptical of theories of knowledge that are founded on 'immediate experience'. Others, pragmatickr like Peirce or James are skeptical of the correspondence theory which holds that true beliefs are those which accurately reflect reality.
Other pragmatism-related issues include the relationship between beliefs and reality as well as the nature of human rationality, the role of values and virtues, and the significance of life. Pragmatists have also developed a broad variety of ideas and methods in areas such as semiotics and philosophy of language, the philosophy of religion and ethics, philosophy of science, and theology. Some, such as Peirce and Royce are epistemological relativists. However, others believe that such relativism is completely wrong. The 20th century was marked by a revival of interest in classical pragmatics. This resulted in a variety of new developments. These include a "near-side" pragmatics that is focused on the resolution of ambiguity indexicals, demonstratives and anaphors as well as a "far-side" pragmatics which looks at the semantics in discourses.
What is the relation between what is said and what is done?
Semantics and Pragmatics are regarded as being on opposite ends of the continuum. On the near side, semantics is viewed and pragmatics is located on the far side. Carston for instance claims that modern pragmatics follows at least three major lines: those who view it as an approach to philosophy that is reminiscent of Grice, those who focus its interaction with grammar and those who are concerned about utterance interpretation. Near-side pragmatics includes issues like the resolution of ambiguity and the use of proper names indexicals, demonstratives anaphoras and presupposition. It is also thought to cover some issues involving explicit descriptions.
What is the connection between pragmatism and semantics?
Pragmatics is the study of meaning within the context of language. It is a subset of linguistics, and looks at the way people employ words to convey various meanings. It is often contrasted to semantics, which focuses on the literal meaning of words in a sentence or chunk of discourse.
The relationship between semantics and pragmatism is not simple. The primary difference is that pragmatics considers other aspects that are not related to the literal meaning of words, like the intended meaning as well as the context in which the utterance was made. This allows a more nuanced understanding to be formed of the meaning of a phrase. Semantics also focuses on the relationship between words, whereas pragmatics is more focused on the relationships between the interlocutors as well as their context.
In recent years, the neopragmatism movement has been heavily focusing on metaphilosophy as well as the philosophy of language. As such, it has largely abandoned the metaphysics of classical pragmatism and value theory. However, some neopragmatists are currently working on a metaethics based on the concepts of classical pragmatism regarding pragmatics and experience.
Charles Sanders Peirce, William James and others were the first to create classical pragmatism. Both were influential thinkers who wrote numerous books. Their writings are well-read to this day.
Although pragmatism offers an alternative to the analytic and continental philosophical mainstream, it's not without criticism. For example some philosophers have claimed that pragmatism is simply an expression of deconstructionism, and is not an innovative philosophical method.
In addition to these criticisms, pragmatism itself has been challenged by scientific and technological developments. For instance, pragmatists have struggled with reconciling their views on science with the evolution theory which was conceived by Richard Dawkins, a non-pragmatist.
Despite these challenges, pragmatic approach continues to grow in its popularity throughout the world. It is a crucial third alternative to the analytic and continental philosophical traditions and has many practical applications. It is a rapidly growing field of study that has numerous schools of thought developing and incorporating aspects of pragmatism into their own philosophical framework. Whether you are interested in learning more about pragmatism or incorporating it in your daily life, there are many resources available.
