Steering-Thrust-Posting Pragmatics

Igal Kvart New Steering-Thrust-Posting Pragmatics Abstract In this paper I present a new approach to Pragmatics and a new Pragmatic Theory, with applications to Assertion, Presuppositions and more. The new Pragmatics comes in a new Conceptual Framework. The main concepts are: 1. Steering-Thrusts – any Verbal Act (spoken or written or thought) comes with a certain degree of 'steering' the hearer/audience towards adopting a certain content (conveyed by the speaker's Verbal Act). 2. Pragmatic Stances: Types of cognitive states hearers are steered towards. One among others is the Epistemic/informational Pragmatic Stance, with propositional contents – familiar in traditional Pragmatics (Grice, Stalnaker). But there are various others – attitudinal, attentive, Action-Directed, emotive, etc. Their contents need not be propositional. 3. A new set of Norms – comprising Conversational Etiquette. One among them is the familiar Sincerity Norm. It's generalized into the Broad Sincerity Norm. But Conversational Etiquette comprises also other types of norms, not considered in current Pragmatics. The proposed Pragmatics is not governed by Gricean Maxims of Rationality but rather by different special norms of Conversational Etiquette. 4. A cognitive state of Posting -- having a certain Pragmatic Stance, which is NORM-CONFERRED by Conversational Etiquette, usually via Steering by a verbal act that makes it PUBLIC. For instance, in steering towards an Epistemic Position, the speaker THEREBY Posts having it. Applications: This set of concepts makes it possible to provide a new outlook on what Assertions are – they inherently invoke certain degrees of Steering-Thrust, NOT some epistemic position. So-called Presuppositions turn out to be mental acts of Posting-Without-Steering. (Epistemic) Pragmatic Encroachment, it would follow, DOESN'T EXIST – the underpinning phenomena are Verbal Acts conveying 2 distinct Steering Thrusts, where the Action-Directed Steering Thrust OVERWHELM the epistemic Steering Thrust (in view of strong normative pressures, such as in High Stakes): The phenomenon is PRAGMATIC, not semantic (as in, e.g., Epistemic Contextualism, or Shifty Epistemology). Misleading is a Pragmatic phenomenon – conveying implicit contents that the speaker Posts having but in fact doesn't. Pragmatic Inconsistencies, as in Moorean sentences, involve CONFLICTING STEERING THRUSTS, i.e., in opposite directions (such as towards an action, an epistemic position, an attitude, etc.). Among many particular and general differences from traditional Pragmatics, note Grice's notion of implicature, which is inexorably interwoven with his set of Maxims (aiming at Rational Cooperation towards a Common Goal), which therefore needs to be replaced by the more neutral and general Implicit Content. The domain of application of STPP is much larger than that of Gricean Pragmatics. The contents of implicit content need not be propositional (as in Grice and Stalnaker), due to the variety of Pragmatic Stances. So-called Presupposing is characterized precisely via the notions of Steering and Posting.