Pragmatism and semiotics

Susanne Rohr

pp. 220-224

in: Martin Middeke, Timo Müller, Christina Wald, Hubert Zapf (eds), English and American studies, Stuttgart, Metzler, 2012

Abstract

Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that originated in the United States in the latter half of the nineteenth century. It has many strains and variants, but all share a key tenet found in the "pragmatic maxim," which states that the meaning of a concept is determined by the practical consequences that its adoption might have, not by antecedent data. Thus meaning in pragmatism is always connected to a real-world context and to human action within it. Furthermore, pragmatism emphasizes the social character of human experience as well as the inherent creativity in human action.