Gricean Pragmatics

Karen explores the relationship between language and communication, looking at the question of how it is that people regularly use words to communicate more than their literal meanings.  This video introduces us to the most philosophically influential theory on this matter, H.P. Grice’s theory of pragmatics.

Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Barnard College, Columbia University

Karen Lewis joined the department in 2012. She works mainly in the philosophy of language.  Her work often draws on current theories in linguistics.  In particular, she is interested in dynamic semantics, the semantics-pragmatics distinction, the nature of pragmatics, context, anaphora, and counterfactual conditionals.  She also has interests in the philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and metaphysics, particularly in their intersection with language.  Dr. Lewis was previously an assistant professor at University of Southern California.

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