On Language, Meaning, and Validity: Philosophy of Education and the Universal Pragmatics of Habermas

Abstract

A theory of language may prove conducive to many important and complex issues in philosophy of education. After grouping these issues into four main categories, I explore the possibility and need to back up the categories with a comprehensive theory of language or a cluster of theories of compatible assumptions. I argue that Habermas's universal pragmatics can be presented as one such theory and explain why by reference to its conceptions of meaning and validity, while associating them with specific educational concerns and dilemmas. I suggest that, by breaking with representationalism and expressivism, universal pragmatics can help educational theory keep distances from positivism, performativity, and relativism.