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International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

205784

Pragmatism and the evolution of semantic systems

Stefan Artmann

pp. 13-29

Abstract

This paper discusses two classical pragmatists and their theories about the relation of semantics and pragmatics: Peirce's evolutionary pragmatism and its naturalistic reconstruction by Dewey. Two questions are addressed: how do these philosophers understand the origin and development of meaning and how might their theories contribute to an explanation of the evolution of semantic systems? Pragmatism could play a very important role in our understanding of the dynamics of meaning if it integrated theories and models of structural science. This would lead to a new version of pragmatist thought, 'structural pragmatism."

Publication details

Published in:

Küppers Bernd-Olaf, Hahn Udo, Artmann Stefan (2013) Evolution of semantic systems. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 13-29

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-34997-3_2

Full citation:

Artmann Stefan (2013) „Pragmatism and the evolution of semantic systems“, In: B. Küppers, U. Hahn & S. Artmann (eds.), Evolution of semantic systems, Dordrecht, Springer, 13–29.