Cultural pragmatism and The Life of the Sign

摘要

Wanting to catalyse new approaches to interdisciplinary inquiry and practice within the field of journalism, media, and cultural studies (JMC), Shepperson reconceived interdisciplinary relationships in the light of the highly original-and still not fully understood-work of the American scientist, philosopher and logician, C.S. Peirce. Shepperson approached his reconceptualisation of interdisciplinarity in ways meant'to bear on the global dimension of the human condition', even imagining that, as a consequence of their own evolving practice, such disciplines as JMC might begin to influence the general ethic of societies in ways which could meliorate social conditions. While he did not live to complete this work, his pioneering research in applying Peirce's pragmatism to inquiry into the social realm can be seen as preparing the theoretical foundations for a new discipline, cultural pragmatism.