From Peirce’s pragmatic maxim to Wittgenstein’s language-games
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Dinda L. Gorlée
Abstract
Pragmatism is the early 20th century movement in American philosophy serving as a socially engaged theory of meaning leading to the distinctive, reasonable, and assertible theory of truth. Pragmatism was introduced as a theory by Peirce in the pragmatic maxim of 1878. Further, pragmatism was made concrete by different American thinkers of science, art, law, and religion: Holmes, James, Dewey, and others. The general version of pragmaticism (as distinct from pragmatism) was grounded in the interactive meanings of Peirce’s three categories, while Wittgenstein’s pragmatism broadened the American outlook into the wider use of language in the European tradition. Peirce and Wittgenstein shared the ethics of terminology, the fragmentariness of writing paragraphs, and the sign-action of semiosis. Peirce’s principle started by logical definition, Wittgenstein merely gave practical stories (parables) introducing language-games. Peirce and Wittgenstein struggled with the “use” of language. Peirce concentrated on words to build meaningful sentences asserting the truth of meaning in the doctrine of fallibility (and infallibility). Wittgenstein focused on the good and bad “uses” of words and sentences in the language-games. The “bricks” of language-games demonstrate the “building blocks” of Peirce’s three interpretants, making guesses at the riddles of cognitive and creative games. Peirce and Wittgenstein disparaged all forms of dogmatism to champion self-criticism at the practical standards of making good “use” of language, constructing sign theory and coordinating human communication.
Abstract
Pragmatism is the early 20th century movement in American philosophy serving as a socially engaged theory of meaning leading to the distinctive, reasonable, and assertible theory of truth. Pragmatism was introduced as a theory by Peirce in the pragmatic maxim of 1878. Further, pragmatism was made concrete by different American thinkers of science, art, law, and religion: Holmes, James, Dewey, and others. The general version of pragmaticism (as distinct from pragmatism) was grounded in the interactive meanings of Peirce’s three categories, while Wittgenstein’s pragmatism broadened the American outlook into the wider use of language in the European tradition. Peirce and Wittgenstein shared the ethics of terminology, the fragmentariness of writing paragraphs, and the sign-action of semiosis. Peirce’s principle started by logical definition, Wittgenstein merely gave practical stories (parables) introducing language-games. Peirce and Wittgenstein struggled with the “use” of language. Peirce concentrated on words to build meaningful sentences asserting the truth of meaning in the doctrine of fallibility (and infallibility). Wittgenstein focused on the good and bad “uses” of words and sentences in the language-games. The “bricks” of language-games demonstrate the “building blocks” of Peirce’s three interpretants, making guesses at the riddles of cognitive and creative games. Peirce and Wittgenstein disparaged all forms of dogmatism to champion self-criticism at the practical standards of making good “use” of language, constructing sign theory and coordinating human communication.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
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Section 1: Semiotics in the world and academia
- What the humanities are for – a semiotic perspective 3
- Semioethics as a vocation of semiotics. In the wake of Welby, Morris, Sebeok, Rossi- Landi 25
- “General semiotics” as the all-round interdisciplinary organizer – general semiotics (GS) vs. philosophical fundamentalism 45
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Section 2: Semiotics, experimental science and maths
- Semiotics as a metalanguage for the sciences 61
- Mastering phenomenological semiotics with Husserl and Peirce 83
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Section 3: Society, text and social semiotics
- Farewell to representation: text and society 105
- Social semiotics: Towards a sociologically grounded semiotics 121
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Section 4: Semiotics and media
- What relationship to time do the media promise us? 149
- Semiotics and interstitial mediatizations 169
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Section 5: Semiotics for moral questions
- Spaces of memory and trauma: a cultural semiotic perspective 185
- Media coverage of the voices of Colombia’s victims of dispossession 205
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Section 6: Questioning the logic of semiotics
- Sense beyond communication 225
- Semiotic paradoxes: Antinomies and ironies in a transmodern world 239
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Section 7: Manifestoes for semiotics
- Semiosis and human understanding 257
- Culture and transcendence – the concept of transcendence through the ages 293
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Section 8: Masters on past masters
- From Peirce’s pragmatic maxim to Wittgenstein’s language-games 327
- Semiotics as a critical discourse: Roland Barthes’ Mythologies 353
- Ricoeur, a disciple of Greimas? A case of paradoxical maïeutic 363
- Index 377
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
-
Section 1: Semiotics in the world and academia
- What the humanities are for – a semiotic perspective 3
- Semioethics as a vocation of semiotics. In the wake of Welby, Morris, Sebeok, Rossi- Landi 25
- “General semiotics” as the all-round interdisciplinary organizer – general semiotics (GS) vs. philosophical fundamentalism 45
-
Section 2: Semiotics, experimental science and maths
- Semiotics as a metalanguage for the sciences 61
- Mastering phenomenological semiotics with Husserl and Peirce 83
-
Section 3: Society, text and social semiotics
- Farewell to representation: text and society 105
- Social semiotics: Towards a sociologically grounded semiotics 121
-
Section 4: Semiotics and media
- What relationship to time do the media promise us? 149
- Semiotics and interstitial mediatizations 169
-
Section 5: Semiotics for moral questions
- Spaces of memory and trauma: a cultural semiotic perspective 185
- Media coverage of the voices of Colombia’s victims of dispossession 205
-
Section 6: Questioning the logic of semiotics
- Sense beyond communication 225
- Semiotic paradoxes: Antinomies and ironies in a transmodern world 239
-
Section 7: Manifestoes for semiotics
- Semiosis and human understanding 257
- Culture and transcendence – the concept of transcendence through the ages 293
-
Section 8: Masters on past masters
- From Peirce’s pragmatic maxim to Wittgenstein’s language-games 327
- Semiotics as a critical discourse: Roland Barthes’ Mythologies 353
- Ricoeur, a disciple of Greimas? A case of paradoxical maïeutic 363
- Index 377
