Pragmatics and Semantics
Many contemporary pragmatics theories based on philosophy focus on semantics. For instance, Brandom focuses on linguistic meaning (albeit from a pragmatic perspective).
Others take a more comprehensive view of pragmatics, like relevance theory, which attempts to study the underlying of the processes that lead to an utterance being made by a listener. This method tends to overlook other elements of pragmatics, such as epistemic discussions about truth.
What is pragmatism, exactly?
Pragmatism is a viable alternative to continental philosophy and analytic philosophy. Charles Sanders Peirce initiated it, and William James extended it. Later, Josiah Royce developed the philosophy. It had a significant impact on areas of inquiry ranging from theology to philosophy of science however, it also found its place in the philosophy of ethics and politics, philosophy of language, aesthetics and social theory. The pragmatist tradition continues to grow.
The underlying principle of classical pragmatism is the pragmatic maxim, which is a guideline to clarify the meaning of hypotheses through exploring their 'practical implications that they have for the experience of specific circumstances. This gives rise to a distinctive epistemological outlook that is a type of 'inquiry-based epistemology' and an anti-Cartesian explication of the rules that govern inquiry. Early pragmatists, however, largely split over the question of whether pragmatism should conceive of itself as a philosophical system that adopts a monism about truth (following Peirce), or a broad-based alethic pluralism (James and Dewey).
How to comprehend knowledge is a central question for the pragmatists. Certain pragmatists like Rorty are likely to be skeptical of knowledge that is based on a foundation of 'immediate' experiences. Others, such as Peirce or James are skeptical of the correspondence theory which states that the true beliefs are those which accurately represent reality.
Other topics in pragmatism are the relationship between belief and reality as well as the nature of human rationality, the significance of virtues and values, and the meaning of life. Pragmatists have also come up with a wide range of methods and ideas in fields such as semiotics and philosophy of language, the philosophy of religion and ethics, philosophy of science and theology. Some, like Peirce or Royce are epistemological relativism, whereas others argue that this concept is a mistake. The latter half of the 20th century saw a revival of interest in classical pragmatics. This resulted in a variety of new developments. This includes the concept of a "near-side" pragmatics which is focused on the resolution of ambiguity, indexicals, demonstratives, and anaphors. There is also a "far-side" pragmatics that analyzes the semantics in discourses.
What is the relationship between what is said and what is done?
Semantics and Pragmatics are often viewed as being at opposite ends of the continuum with semantics on the close side and pragmatics on the far side. Carston, for instance, asserts that modern pragmatics has at least three principal lines: those who see it as a philosophy in the vein of Grice, those who focus its interaction with grammar and those who are concerned with utterance interpretation. Near-side pragmatics includes issues like the resolution of unclearness and the use of proper names indexicals, demonstratives, presupposition, and anaphoras. It is also believed to encompass questions that require precise descriptions.
What is the connection between semantics and pragmatism?
Pragmatics is the study of meaning within the context of language. It is a subset of linguistics, and examines how people employ words to convey various meanings. It is often compared to semantics, pragmatickr which studies the literal meaning of words in sentences or in larger chunks of discourse.
The relationship between pragmatism and semantics is not simple. The main difference is that pragmatics considers different factors other than the literal meanings of words, which includes the intended meaning as well as the context that a statement was made. This gives a more naive understanding of the meaning of an expression. Semantics also focuses on the relationship between words while pragmatics focuses more on the connections between interlocutors and their contextual features.
In recent years Neopragmatism has primarily focused on the philosophy of metaphilosophy and language. As such, it has largely abandoned classical pragmatism's metaphysics and value theory. Some neopragmatists, however, are working on developing metaethics that is based on the ideas of classical pragmatism about practicality and experience.
Charles Sanders Peirce, William James and others were among the first to create classical pragmatism. Both were influential thinkers who wrote many books. Their works are widely regarded to this day.
Although pragmatism can be a good alternative to the analytic and continental philosophical mainstream, it is not without its critics. For instance some philosophers have claimed that pragmatism is simply an expression of deconstructionism, and is not truly a new philosophical approach.
In addition to these criticisms, pragmatism itself has been questioned by technological and scientific advancements. For instance, the pragmatists have struggled to reconcile their beliefs on science and the development of the theory of evolution which was conceived by Richard Dawkins, a non-pragmatist.
Despite these difficulties, pragmatism is still growing in popularity worldwide. It is a significant third option in comparison to the analytic and continental philosophical traditions and has numerous practical applications. It is a growing field of study that has numerous schools of thought forming and incorporating aspects of pragmatism into their own philosophical framework. Whether you are looking to learn more about pragmatism or using it in your day-to-day life, there are plenty of resources available.