Pragmatics seeks to understand the ways that people use language in particular contexts, the meanings they produce and interpret, and what they manage to communicate. The field of pragmatics has developed rapidly in recent years as researchers grapple with the complexity and diversity of human communication. Consequently, there are many different approaches and perspectives in the discipline. While it is difficult to identify a “pragmatist creed” (that is, a set of definitive articles or essential tenets endorsed by all pragmatists), some key ideas have emerged that can help distinguish pragmatism from other philosophical traditions.
One important idea is that pragmatism is concerned more with what works than with what could or should be. This practical focus on results and consequences is reflected in the way pragmatists design and conduct experimental research. When choosing an experimental approach, pragmatists consider the potential consequences of the choices they make (Morgan 2014a). However, these consequences are not always deterministic; instead, they depend on a number of factors such as the individual researcher’s background and experience, the characteristics of the individuals who participate in the experiment, and the design of the experiment itself. Despite these limitations, pragmatism still provides a valuable perspective for experimental research on pragmatics.
The second key idea is that pragmatism places great emphasis on the social dimension of human communication. This is evident in the early work of pragmatists such as Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), who introduced the idea of pragmatics, and his Harvard colleague William James (1842-1910), who further developed it. Both of these philosophers drew on anthropology-the study of human societies and cultures-and sociology to explain how human interaction involves more than just the words we speak.
More recently, a third defining idea has emerged within pragmatism. This is the notion that there are certain things that a human being must do in order to have a meaningful life, and that these actions can be classified as pragmatic (Morgan 2015). These activities are defined by a person’s values, goals, and intentions. They also include the underlying assumptions about the world that a person has.
These three central aspects of a pragmatist philosophy have led to a rich interdisciplinary tradition in pragmatics that includes contributions from a wide range of fields. For example, experiments in developmental pragmatics draw on ideas from cognitive psychology, sociology, and anthropology.
There are also a growing number of liberatory philosophical projects in pragmatics that connect it to other areas of philosophy such as feminism (Seigfried 1996), ecology (Alexander 2013), Native American philosophy (Pratt 2002), and Latin American philosophy.
These diverse and fascinating aspects of pragmatics illustrate the value of pragmatism in providing a broad and inclusive intellectual framework for understanding language, communication, and the human condition. As a result, this article is intended to highlight the work being done in this rich and diverse field, and to provide a glimpse of where the future may take it.
