Abstract:
The paper is a critique of Hu Fanzhu's criticism of the pragmatic theories in his recent paper.Based on Kuhn's and Berger and Luckmann's theories of knowledge, the author responds by claiming that Hu's paper has confounded the logical relations within and between paradigms, and within and between knowledge systems.As it is the case with philosophy, pragmatics is not one unitary theory of language use but a discursive domain of research which engages theories and knowledge paradigms.Multiplicity of definition is a sign of academic prosperity rather than chaos because it signals active engagement of many theories.To impose one single defining structure impoverishes rather than enriches pragmatics.