Pragmatics and Semantics

Many contemporary pragmatics theories based on philosophy focus on semantics. For instance, Brandom focuses on linguistic meaning (albeit from a pragmatic viewpoint).

Others take a more holistic approach to pragmatics, such as relevance theory, that aims to determine how an utterance is understood by the hearer. However, this approach tends to overlook other aspects of pragmatism, like epistemic debates on truth.

What is the definition of pragmatism?

Pragmatism is a philosophical perspective that offers a viable alternative to continental and analytic philosophy. Charles Sanders Peirce initiated the concept and William James extended it. Later, Josiah Royce developed the philosophy. 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 tradition continues to develop.

The underlying principle of classical pragmatism is the pragmatic maxim, which is a guideline for clarifying the meaning of hypotheses through exploring their 'practical implications that they have for specific circumstances. This creates an epistemological view that is a type of 'inquiry-based epistemology' and an anti-Cartesian explication of the norms that govern inquiry. Early pragmatists, however, were largely divided on the issue of whether pragmatism ought to 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).

How to comprehend knowledge is a central question for pragmatists. Rorty is one of the pragmatists who is skeptical of any notions of knowledge that are based on 'immediate experiences'. Others, such as Peirce or James are skeptical of the correspondence theory which holds that true beliefs are those that accurately represent reality.

Pragmatism also examines the connection between reality, beliefs, Pragmatickr and human rationality. It examines the importance of values and virtues, and the meaning and purpose of existence. Pragmatists have also developed a wide variety of ideas and methods in fields like semiotics, philosophy of language, philosophy of religion and ethics, philosophy of science and theology. Some, like Peirce and Royce, are epistemological relativists, while others argue that such relativism is completely wrong. The late 20th century saw a revival of interest in classical pragmatics. This resulted in a variety of new developments. This includes a "near-side" pragmatics which is focused on the resolution of ambiguity, indexicals, demonstratives and anaphors. There is also the "far-side" pragmatics that examines the semantics of discourses.

What is the connection between what you say and what you do?

Semantics and Pragmatics are regarded as being on opposite ends of the continuum. On the close side, semantics is considered and pragmatics is located on the far side. Carston, for example, argues that there are at least three main kinds of pragmatics in the present people who view it as a philosophical concept along the lines of Grice and others