Pragmatics is the study of meaning-bearing contexts in communication. Unlike semantics, which is concerned with abstract meanings or meaning-making, pragmatics takes a bottom-up approach to understanding the structure of utterances in their communicational contexts. In addition to a strong focus on interaction, it also incorporates linguistic and cognitive approaches. It has broad applications in a variety of disciplines such as communication studies, literature and cultural anthropology. It also intersects with other disciplines such as interactional linguistics, conversation analysis and ethnomethodology, social and political philosophy, media studies, sociology and psychology.
Although the term “pragmatic” has been used since the 1580s, it was not until the mid-20th century that pragmatism became an established movement in philosophy and linguistics. The word derives from the Greek pragmatikos, meaning “practical”, and the Latin verb praxis, meaning ‘to do’. Thus, the pragmatist view is that knowledge comes from action, and that the best way to test theories is to put them into practice.
In its purest form, pragmatism is a form of instrumental rationality, the idea that one should weigh the advantages and disadvantages of various courses of action to determine which will be most effective in practical situations. This perspective is often seen as an alternative to more traditional, idealistic philosophical views such as those of utilitarianism and naturalism. It is an idea that carries wide appeal, not only for scientists but across the social sciences and humanities.
Originally an American philosophical viewpoint, pragmatism now represents a growing third alternative to analytic and Continental philosophical traditions worldwide. Its first generation was initiated by Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, and later developed by Alfred North Whitehead and phenomenologist philosophers like John Dewey.
Pragmatist philosophers have made significant contributions to many disciplinary fields, from linguistics and cognitive science to political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of religion, epistemology, law, sociology and history of ideas. It is often combined with analytic and Continental philosophy to form a hybrid view of truth.
For example, the work of Bach and Harnish on the structural analysis of utterance interpretation can be positioned within near-side pragmatics (resolution of ambiguity, vagueness and reference; indexicals and demonstratives; anaphors) but can also be seen as a transitional bridge between the classical pragmatics period and a linguistic and psychological pragmatics.
Contemporary pragmatism is primarily an experimental philosophy of language, and its methods are widely applied in areas such as sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, interactional linguistics, conversation analysis and anthropology, and media studies. It is also a highly multidisciplinary field, and the journal publishes works that integrate pragmatics with other research areas such as semantics, discourse analysis, language acquisition, conversation analysis, ethnomethodology and psycholinguistics. In particular, the journal encourages articles that use attested language data and that explore the interface between pragmatics and neighbouring research areas such as the philosophy of language, anthropology, conversation analysis, phonology, sociology and epistemology. In addition to full-length articles, discussion notes and book reviews are also published.