Pragmatic is a branch of philosophy that explores what makes language meaningful in the context of real-world communication. It looks at the social and cultural factors that influence what a sentence means beyond its literal meaning. It examines how a person intends to communicate and how the linguistic environment affects those intentions. For example, the phrase “the cow is chasing the lizard” might seem odd. However, if you were to take into account the cultural and social expectations of the speaker, and the specific circumstances of that conversation you might understand why the cow was chasing the lizard.
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that – broadly speaking – understands knowing the world as inseparable from agency within it. This general idea has attracted a remarkably rich and, at times, contrary range of interpretations. In particular, pragmatists have developed many ideas about the nature of truth and evidence (for instance, most pragmatists would argue that a claim only becomes truly valid when it proves useful in inquiry or action), how to make sense of experience, whether or not knowledge is a genuine mode of representing reality, and the way that articulate language rests on a deep bed of shared human practices which cannot be fully’made explicit’.
The pragmatist approach to communication has been widely applied to a wide range of practical issues. It has helped shape fields like public administration, leadership, and research methodology. It also influenced the development of philosophy of science, and shaped the debate about the relationship between religion and science.
Classic pragmatists such as John Dewey, William James, and Charles Sanders Peirce emphasized the connection between thought and action. This perspective has informed applied fields like public administration and political science. In addition, scholars of anthropology and sociology have been deeply influenced by the pragmatist approach.
For instance, a researcher who uses ethnographic methods to study the ways in which people interact in their everyday lives may draw upon pragmatic concepts like turn-taking norms, politeness, and politeness-related strategies. Similarly, an anthropologist studying the way in which children establish social bonds and communicate with one another may utilize pragmatic approaches such as examining eye contact, playful games such as peek-a-boo, and the use of irony and metaphor.
In terms of speech and language disorders, pragmatism is particularly important for understanding what a child or adult might mean when they say something that seems strange or incongruent with their social context. For example, a child might not understand why their parent is upset when they are playing a game of peek-a-boo and doesn’t return their gaze, but from a pragmatic point of view, the parents might be trying to build trust with their child, establishing a mutual understanding of what they both meant by the interaction. For more information on the pragmatics of communication, please contact our team at Alex V Speech Pathology for a consultation today. You can book online or call us on 07 3217 7037.
