Abstract This paper is concerned with the conceptual foundations of pragmatic reasoning (context-dependent reasoning). A general pragmatic semantics (a semantic analysis which includes a pragmatic parameter) is given for pragmatic reasoning, the logical properties of the various forms of pragmatic reasoning are discussed, as are many examples. The semantic pragmatics (the general study of choosing or inferring appropriate contexts) for pragmatic reasoning is then discussed, with illustrations from common sense reasoning and scientific reasoning.

In: V. Akman et al. (Eds.) Modelling and Using Context, Proc. 3rd International and Interdisciplinary Conference, CONTEXT 2001, Springer Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, No. 2116, Springer, Berlin, pages 45-58.