Pragmatic is a philosophical framework that provides a broad and flexible basis for inquiry and understanding of human behavior. It is an approach that embraces the belief that human beings use their environment and the actions they take to achieve their goals and satisfy their needs. This pragmatic view of reality includes the notion that nothing is ultimately real or permanent, and that all knowledge is gained through experience, inquiry and interaction with the environment and other people.
The pragmatist view of reality also includes the notion that truth is not necessarily objective and that there are many different ways to interpret events. The idea is that the most useful or practical way to live your life is to be true to yourself and not worry about whether your actions are “right” or “wrong”. This philosophy can be applied to everyday situations as you navigate through them. For example, if you are dating someone that is not the best fit for you, it may be better to move on from them than continue to waste time trying to make them into a good match.
In addition, a pragmatic perspective helps us understand how language and communication works. Pragmatics is the study of the meaning and intent of utterances in their context of usage. It is a complex field that has been influenced by numerous theories of language, culture, and human cognition, including the philosophy of Hume and Hegel, the semiotics of Saussure, the semantics of Peirce, and the epistemology of Dewey.
Using pragmatics as an inquiry strategy can enrich research in a variety of fields, including sociology, psychology, philosophy, business, and law. In addition, pragmatist approaches can be a valuable tool for organizations to apply in their organizational development and learning initiatives.
A key feature of pragmatism is the recognition that research results are not objective, and must be understood as socially constructed. This makes the concept of pragmatism well suited to research in organizations and social systems where understanding the process of knowledge creation is critical.
For example, pragmatism is well-suited to the study of organizational processes because it encourages researchers to consider how their interactions with respondent organizations might influence their interpretation of the research data and findings. This can lead to the identification of themes and issues that might not have been apparent in formal documentation or rhetoric. This was the case in both of the doctoral project examples described above, where a pragmatist inquiry was used to investigate and document the organizational processes within NGOs.
The pragmatist approach to inquiry is also well-suited to the dynamic and iterative analysis process required for qualitative research. This was especially the case for both of the doctoral project examples, where the choice of a pragmatist framework was closely aligned with establishing the research objectives and framing the research problem at the very beginning stages of the projects. In each instance, a pragmatist approach enabled the researchers to recognize and acknowledge how respondents’ experiences, knowings and acting might shape their interpretation of research data during the analysis and write-up phases.
