Pragmatic is a way of thinking and dealing with people or situations that emphasizes practicality, real-world results and sensible, realistic solutions. A pragmatic person prioritizes these aspects over theoretical or idealistic considerations. For example, the four-year-old who wants a unicorn for her birthday probably isn’t being very pragmatic.
Taking its name from the Greek word prágma, which means deed, pragmatics examines how concepts and ideas are used in practice. It is a broad philosophical trend that views the truth or meaning of all concepts through their direct, practical consequences. Pragmatics is also an approach to language and communication, focusing on what people really mean when they use words in specific contexts.
In philosophy, pragmatism is usually understood to be a response to the growing dissatisfaction with the traditional philosophies that dominated Western thought in the 19th century. It offers a third alternative to analytic philosophy and continental philosophy. It was initiated by Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) and later developed by his Harvard colleague William James (1842-1910), who was a logician, mathematician and scientist. It was further developed by John Dewey (1863-1926), George Herbert Mead (1934) and Alfred North Whitehead (1912-1918).
Pragmatism has many forms, such as formal and computational pragmatics; theoretical and applied pragmatics; game-theoretic, clinical and experimental pragmatics; and intercultural, multilingual and neuropragmatics. It is a philosophical movement that has influenced many areas of human thought and action, such as education, law, science, religion, art, sociology, business, economics, medicine and politics.
One of the more important applications of pragmatism has been in law and legal decision-making. Judicial decisions have often been made pragmatically – that is, on the basis of weighing costs and benefits or probable general welfare rather than strict interpretations of precedent.
The study of pragmatics is a valuable tool for teachers who want to help students to develop more sophisticated understandings of the relationship between words and their intended meanings, the context in which they are spoken or written, and how they influence each other. It is a foundation for the work of such contemporary philosophers as Richard Brandom, who explores how different vocabularies and ways of communicating are related to ethics and values.
The classroom application of pragmatics is exemplified by activities such as “Luck of the Draw (Pragmatics),” which provides learners with a fun and engaging activity for practicing appropriate greetings in various situations, using a variety of speakers and locations. This activity can be modified to examine pragmatics in other functional areas such as apologizing, giving advice, requesting something and even closing conversations. The pragmatics of language is an exciting and intriguing field that will continue to grow and evolve as we understand the power of words and how they affect us and those around us. -Jim Margolis, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He teaches courses on American philosophy and pragmatics. His book on pragmatics, The Virtue of Pragmatism, is available from Continuum Books.
