Pragmaticism as a logical study of consciousness

Ahti Veikko Pietarinen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Pragmaticism states that general rules of action, or habits, are generalizing tendencies that lead us to action in conceivable situations describable in general terms. As a method of ‘putting questions to our minds,’ it assigns meanings to signs in terms of conceivable practical consequences for rational conduct. Questions are experiments on various ways of finding solutions in thoughts. This paper proposes pragmaticism as a logical method to study consciousness. In particular, perceptions of relations of differences create a “temporal contract” between states of minds that give rise to experiences. Peirce’s “dyadic consciousness” is this drafting of a contract between states of mind, anticipating and occasionally furthering beyond the key notions of 4E cognitive science.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)29-46
Number of pages18
JournalCognitive Semiotics
Volume14
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2021

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Linguistics and Language
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Communication

User-Defined Keywords

  • 4E cognition
  • consciousness
  • existential graphs
  • pragmaticism
  • temporal contract

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