Description
Book SynopsisIn this pioneering study of communicative conventions, distinguished philosopher Nicholas Rescher focuses on the principles at work in the communicative use of language. Rescher explores various aspects of explanatory and expository uses of language across a wide range of applications, ranging from the factual to the fictional, and from the expository to the literary. A unifying theme of the book is pragmatic conventionality. Rescher explores the fundamentally pragmatic conception of communicative conventions: rules of procedure that form part of the setting of tacit undertakings that function in various sectors of communicative practice. Only in this setting, he argues, can one achieve an adequate understanding of the way in which the business of communication is actually carried on within its wider setting of its service in the conduct of human affairs.
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Communicative Pragmatism Chapter 3 Rhetoric and Rational Argumentation Chapter 4 Truth Conditions versus Use Conditions Chapter 5 Presumption and Probability Chapter 6 Objectivity and Communication Chapter 7 Biographology: An Introduction to Biography Theory Chapter 8 On the Ways and Vagaries of Fiction Chapter 9 The Signification of Silence Chapter 10 The Interpretation of Philosophical Texts Chapter 11 Philosophical Discourse Chapter 12 Against Deconstructionism Chapter 13 Index of Names
