Abstract: This article presents a new approach to considering the categories and concepts necessary for praxeology based on the theoretical framework proposed by Anna Wierzbicka and Cliff Goddard. Natural semantic metalanguage theory can be a comprehensive method for defining the conceptual foundations of human action and of rational discussion in general. Behind the very premise of praxeology lies the basis from which one may infer the universal parts of “human semantics.” Therefore, it is possible to attach a praxeological interpretation to the shape that natural semantic metalanguage theory has taken. Additionally, the linguistic framework proposed by Wierzbicka enables a precise and coherent description of the universal foundation of human cognition that can be transferred to reflections surrounding the study of purposeful human behavior. This contemporary version of the concept of lingua mentalis is not only a useful tool in a discussion of hermeneutics and relativism, but has also undergone considerable empirical testing.
Keywords: Praxeology, Austrian school of economics, universalism, relativism, natural semantic metalanguage, cognitive linguistics
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