ABSTRACT
Modular pragmatics is a research programme. Every research programme is a continuous series of theories that share a conception of objectives, a philosophical ‘hard core’ and an appropriate methodology. Generative linguistics, as it has been portrayed by Chomsky, is a research programme that has had syntax in its focus. 1 Truth-conditional theories of meaning, as proposed and defended by Davidson, form another research programme, one that has had semantics in its focus. 2 Modular pragmatics is meant to be a research programme that applies to the field of pragmatics the general modular approach to the study of language and cognition, which in turn is a part of the general cognitive approach to the study of the human mind (see Kasher 1991a, 1991b).
