Pragmatic is the theory of how different meanings can be derived in context-dependent ways from the same words or sentences, owing either to ambiguity or indexicality or to a variety of other factors. It also covers the various aspects of linguistic interpretation that go beyond what is written on the page – for example, reference resolution, conversational implicatures and the theory of speech act.
The discipline of pragmatism has been influenced by a wide range of philosophical thinkers and approaches. One of its most influential proponents has been the American philosopher William James, who took up a position of pragmaticism in the early part of the twentieth century. His stance was, however, not antithetical to religion and he made a number of statements in favour of the truths of spirituality. He also developed a philosophy of inquiry that drew heavily on the ideas of Peirce, and he explored issues of truth in religion in particular in his book Varieties of Religious Experience.
Classical pragmatism’s progressive social ideals live on in many places. The ideas were put to work in a variety of fields including education, where John Dewey was a pioneer (Baldwin 2003). A pragmatist tradition of theology developed through the writings of Charles Horton Coolidge and William James, and has had a strong influence on Christian philosophy and theology. New philosophies of race have also grown from pragmatist roots, particularly through the writings of Cornel West and the pioneering African-American thinkers such as W. E. B Du Bois and Alain Locke (Misak 2018).
It is not uncommon to talk of being ‘pragmatic’ in everyday life, for example when someone is willing to compromise or take a practical approach to something. The idea is that it’s better to get results than to get bogged down with an over-rigid philosophical viewpoint that can only end in an empty dispute.
As a philosophy, Pragmatic was given a major boost by discussions of Peirce’s ideas at a Harvard-based Metaphysical Club around 1870. This group was led by William James and a handful of philosophers, psychologists and philosophically inclined lawyers, and lasted for a while after its formation.
The main issue in this group was the nature of truth, and how much of it is revealed by what is said and how it is interpreted. This debate became the focus of James’s later philosophies and was, in some sense, his legacy to a generation of philosophers that came after him.
More recently, there has been a revival of pragmatist thinking in philosophy with a focus on the role of language and its implications. One of the most prominent is Robert Brandom whose views are not quite like those of the classical pragmatists, and who owes more to the representationalism of Sellars and Quine and Rorty than to Peirce or James. However, his work on the pragmatics of knowledge and action carries an unmistakable pragmatist flavour. Other contemporary pragmaticists include those who focus on the interaction between pragmatics and grammar, or those who view pragmatics as a psychological theory of utterance interpretation.
