Relevance

The ‘frame’ problem in logic presents the following challenge: produce a logical formula that describes the effects of a particular action without having to write corresponding formulae for the trivially obvious non-effects of that action. The problem has epistemological consequences. When processing a new fact, how do we sift through the vast amount of irrelevant information we have at our disposal and decide what is relevant? This article addresses this question by focusing on the concept of relevance as used in Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson’s Relevance Theory. Relevance theory is an approach to cognition and communication that has had a huge influence not only in pragmatics but also in a range of different disciplines. The article places the theory in its historical context, presents the central tenets of the theory and explores a range of applications relevance theory has in the natural and social sciences.