Pragmatism and the evolution of semantic systems
pp. 13-29
in: Bernd-Olaf Küppers, Udo Hahn, Stefan Artmann (eds), Evolution of semantic systems, Berlin, Springer, 2013Abstract
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."
