Pragmatic is the study of human action and communication, especially as it relates to language. It examines the relationship between the meaning of words, the particular circumstances of an utterance, a speaker’s intentions, and what they manage to communicate. Pragmatics also looks beyond the literal meaning of an utterance to focus on its implied or unstated meanings. This is done in order to better understand how and why people use language the way they do.
Many different authors have contributed to the field of pragmatics, but most share a common ground in Peirce, James, and Dewey’s philosophy of experience. Dewey’s emphasis on the connection between thought and action was particularly influential. Other pragmatists have focused on different aspects of experience, including the social and cultural: a pragmatist sociology of religion developed by E.K. Suckiel; a pragmatist philosophy of education was written by William James; and a pragmatist philosophy of democracy was developed by Rorty.
As the Deweyan era waned and analytic philosophy emerged as a discipline, the pragmatists lost influence. However, the ideas of Dewey and James remain relevant to a variety of philosophical issues, such as the problem of knowledge (C.I. Lewis), the problem of truth (Peirce), and the nature of reality and morality (William James).
Applied fields like public administration,[49] political science,[50] leadership studies,[51] international relations,[52] conflict resolution,[53] research methodology,[54] and education are all often influenced by pragmatism’s emphasis on the importance of the connection between thoughts and actions. In addition, a number of liberatory philosophical projects in areas such as feminism,[55] ecology,[56] and Native American philosophy [57] also look to the pragmatist tradition as their intellectual home.
While there are some philosophers who reject pragmatism as a “philosophical blind alley,”[58] most pragmatists accept the pragmatist notion that all knowledge is fallible and uncertain, even though they differ on how this fact should be incorporated into their philosophy of knowledge. In contrast, some analytic philosophers deny that all knowledge is fallible and rely on metaphysical assertions to support their position.
The Journal of Pragmatics welcomes a wide range of papers, including but not limited to, full-length articles, book reviews, and essays in translation. Manuscripts containing a combination of scholarly research and clinical/empirical material are especially encouraged. Non-book review manuscripts should be submitted after a decision has been made on a previously submitted manuscript (Accept or Reject). Manuscripts should not be submitted simultaneously to other journals. Non-book review manuscripts that are received while a decision on a previous submission is pending will be returned to the author without review. Only one manuscript per author will be accepted at a time. Please see the journal’s submission guidelines for further information. The Journal of Pragmatics is published by the American Philosophical Association. All manuscripts should be submitted via the online submission system. Please note that the submission site only accepts PDF files. Manuscripts should not exceed 15 pages, double-spaced, with 11
