Interpretation

Under the heading of "Semantic and Pragmatic Interpretation", the "Saying & Meaning" project approaches the vexed topic of interpretation and its relation to Gricean theory. The debates fought out mainly in Relevance Theory and the theory of communicative interpretation would seem to suggest that Grice's theories of meaning and conversation can be fruitfully used as a starting point for theories of interpretation. They also imply that the concept of interpretation would have to play an important role in the exegesis of Gricean thought.

The status of interpretation within Gricean theory and its connection to other fundamental concepts like saying, meaning and implicating accordingly forms the subject of this part of the project. If it turns out possible to draw a convincing dividing line between semantic and pragmatic interpretation, this will arguably have consequences for the semantics/pragmatics-distinction in general.

Next research topic: Grice's methodology