Pragmatics and Semantics

A variety of contemporary philosophical approaches to pragmatics focus on semantics. For example, Brandom focuses on linguistic meaning (albeit from a pragmatic viewpoint).

Others take a more comprehensive perspective on pragmatics, such as relevance theory, which seeks to understand the of the processes that lead to an utterance being made by a hearer. This method tends to overlook other aspects of pragmatics for instance, epistemic discussions about truth.

What exactly is pragmatism?

Pragmatism is a philosophical approach that offers a viable alternative to continental and analytic philosophy. Charles Sanders Peirce conceived the concept and William James extended it. Later, Josiah Royce developed the philosophy. It was influential in a variety of areas of inquiry ranging from theology to philosophy of science and also found a place within ethics, politics, philosophy of language, aesthetics and social theory. The pragmatist traditions continues to grow.

The pragmatic maxim is at the core of classical pragmatics. It is a rule that clarifies the meaning of hypotheses via their 'practical implications' or their implications for the experiences of particular situations. This gives rise to a distinctive epistemological outlook that is a kind of 'inquiry-based epistemology' and an anti-Cartesian explication of the norms that govern inquiry. The early pragmatists had a split on whether pragmatism was a scientific philosophy that embraced an ethos of truth (following Peirce) or a broad alethic pluralitism (James and Dewey).

How to understand knowledge is a central question for pragmatists. Some pragmatists, such as Rorty tend to be skeptical of knowledge that rests on the basis of 'instantaneous' experiences. Others, such as Peirce or James, are skeptical of the theory of correspondence, pragmatickr which states that the true beliefs are those which accurately reflect reality.

Pragmatism also focuses on the relationship between reality, beliefs, and human rationality. It examines the importance of virtues and values, and the purpose and meaning of our lives. Pragmatists have also come up with a wide variety of ideas and methods in fields like semiotics, philosophy of language, philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, ethics and theology. Some, such as Peirce or Royce, are epistemological relativism, while others argue that this concept is not true. The late 20th century saw an increase in interest in classical pragmatics. This resulted in a variety of new developments. This includes the concept of a "near-side" pragmatics which is concerned with the resolution of ambiguity indexicals, demonstratives and anaphors as well as an "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 often thought of as being on opposite sides of the continuum, with semantics on the near side and pragmatics on the other. Carston, for example claims that there are at a minimum three general types of modern pragmatics: those who view it as a philosophy based on the lines of Grice