On Historical Pragmatics and Peircean Pragmatism

Authors

  • Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v2i1.111

Keywords:

Peirce, Pragmatism, Signs, Semiotics, Pragmatics

Abstract

Historical pragmatics constitutes both the subject matter and methodology. In this paper, the scientific methodology of historical pragmatics is discussed and related to the opinions shared by some 19th-century linguists and philosophers. In particular, Charles S. Peirce’s (1839–1914) semiotics and pragmatism is related to studies on meaning and its change, and his opinions on hypothesis selection in historical research to historical pragmatics. The conclusion is that historical pragmatics is hermeneutic, but that economic and evolutionary considerations square it from the hermeneutic circle.

Author Biography

  • Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen

    Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen (b.1971) received the MPhil in Computer Science from the University of Turku, Finland, in 1997, and the DPhil in Theoretical Philosophy from the University of Helsinki, Finland in 2002. Currently University Lecturer at the University of Helsinki, Department of Philosophy, his research includes logic, game theory and semantics/pragmatics of natural language. Author of Signs of Logic: Peircean Themes on the Philosophy of Language, Games, and Communication (Springer, 2006), his journal publications include articles in Interaction Studies, Linguistic Analysis, LODZ Papers in Pragmatics, Journal of the History of Ideas, Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, Pragmatics & Cognition, Semiotica, Studia Logica and Theoretical Linguistics.

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Published

2008-01-09

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Pietarinen, A.-V. (2008). On Historical Pragmatics and Peircean Pragmatism. Linguistics and the Human Sciences, 2(1), 111-131. https://doi.org/10.1558/lhs.v2i1.111

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