ABSTRACT
Throughout this book we have argued that the true nature of pragmatic concepts can only be ascertained by looking beyond any single, disciplinary account of these notions. Specifically, we have claimed that the disciplines of philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence and language pathology can offer fresh insights into pragmatic phenomena. Additionally, we have demonstrated that pragmatics can contribute usefully to debates within other areas of enquiry. For example, pragmatic phenomena have helped to shape philosophical discussions about the structure and function of mind. Also, a speech act analysis of language has been integral to the project of at least one prominent social theorist, Jürgen Habermas. In this chapter, we summarise these discussions and other issues examined in earlier chapters in terms of a bidirectional relationship between pragmatics and neighbouring disciplines. We indicate also future profitable points of intersection between the work of pragmatics and of other disciplines. Some of these points involve new topics in the various disciplines that we have examined in this book. Other points of intersection take pragmatics into yet further areas of enquiry. Having addressed these final issues, the task of developing a multidisciplinary conception of pragmatics will be well established, even if not fully complete.
