Our species has been hunting for meaning ever since we departed from our cousins in the evolutionary tree. We developed sophisticated forms of communication. Yet, as much as they can convey meaning and foster understanding, they can also hide meaning and prevent comprehension. Indeed, we can never be sure that a "yes" conveys assent or that a smile reveals pleasure. In order to ascertain what communicative behavior "means", we have to go through an elaborate cognitive process of interpretation. This book deals with how we achieve the daily miracle of understanding each other. Based on the author ’s contributions to pragmatics, the book articulates his perspective using the insights of linguistics, the philosophy of language and rhetoric, and confronting alternatives to it. Theory formation is shaped by application to fields of human activity – such as legal practice, artificial intelligence, psychoanalysis, the media, literature, aesthetics, ethics and politics – where interpretation and understanding are paramount. Using an accessible language, this is a book addressed to specialists as well as to anyone interested in interpreting understanding and understanding the potentialities and limits of interpretation.

Table of contents

Foreword Ix Part I: Theorizing 1. Pragmatics and communicative intentions 3 2. Conversational relevance 31 3. Strategies of understanding 52 4. Two modes of understanding 82 5. Individual and collective intentions 101 6. How does a connective work? 115 7. Commitment and involvement 149 8. Cues, clues, and context 169 9. Models of interpretation 194 Part II: Applying 10. Understanding digressions 213 11. Understanding a metaphor 244 12. Three remarks on pragmatics and literature 273 13. Understanding controversies 280 14. Understanding misunderstanding 293 15. Understanding the law 322 16. Understanding jokes and dreams 362 17. Understanding art 380 18. Why does language matter to Artificial Intelligence? 402 19. Pragmatics in the digital age 437 20. Interpretation and tolerance 457 21. Understanding other cultures 477 Part III: Meeting the alternatives 22. Why should I ask her? 497 23. Speech act theory and pragmatics 507 24. The pragmatic structure of conversation 521 25. Contextualism 542 26. Does pragmatics need semantics? 562 27. Pragmatics and foundationalism 594 28. The marriage of pragmatics and rhetoric 600 29. Hermeneutic interpretation and pragmatic interpretation 623 30. The limits of interpretation 641 Sources and acknowledgments 660 References 666 Subject Index 695 Name Index 709