Abstract

Louise Cummings argues that the chances that one could build a theory in pragmatics are negligible. Her argument that theories need to be complete and that since no theory can be complete, there can be no theory seems to me based on the wrong premise that theories need to be complete. I will agree with her that theories cannot be complete but this is no obstacle to theory building. Her second argument against theory building is based on holism. Surely theories interact, but one can very well draw some limits between a theory and another.