On the Pragmatics of Communication

edited by Maeve Cooke Jurgen Habermas's program in formal pragmatics fulfills twomain functions. First, it serves as the theoretical underpinning for his theory of communicativeaction, a crucial element in his theory of society. Second, it contributes to ongoing philosophicaldiscussion of problems concerning meaning, truth, rationality, and action. By the "pragmatic"dimensions of language, Habermas means those pertaining specifically to the employment of sentencesin utterances. He makes clear that "formal" is to be understood in a tolerant sense to refer to therational reconstruction of general intuitions or competences. Formal pragmatics, then, aims at asystematic reconstruction of the intuitive linguistic knowledge of competent subjects as it is usedin everyday communicative practices. His program may thus be distinguished from empiricalpragmatics--for example, sociolinguistics--which looks primarily at particular situations ofuse.This anthology brings together for the first time, in revised or new translation, ten essaysthat present the main concerns of Habermas's program in formal pragmatics. Its aim is to convey asense of the overall purpose of his linguistic investigations while introducing the reader to theirspecific details, in particular to his theories of meaning, truth, rationality, andaction.