The Pragmatics of Qualia in Practice
Nicholas Harkness
Annual Review of Anthropology October 21, 2015 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-anthro-102313-030032 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that qualia—pragmatic indexes materialized as sensuous qualities in human activity—provide a semiotic framework for comparing practices across linguistic, phatic, thing-oriented, and body-focal domains, showing continuities from communication to embodiment. Proposes that this concept links anthropological accounts of practice with pragmatics and identifies awareness, language, and ritual as promising areas for future research. |
Abstract
This review addresses general anthropological understandings of practice and a technical semiotic approach to pragmatics through the concept of qualia. Qualia are pragmatic signals (indexes) that materialize phenomenally in human activity as sensuous qualities. The pragmatic role of qualia is observed through exemplary accounts of the “feeling of doing” from the ethnographic record of practice in four domains: linguistic practices, phatic practices organized explicitly around social relations, practices organized around external “things,” and body-focal practices. Attention to qualia enables anthropologists to consider ethnographically what is continuous semiotically across and within practices—from communication to embodiment. The article concludes with a discussion of praxis in relation to practice and pragmatics and offers suggestions for future research on qualia in the areas of awareness, language, and ritual.