Pragmatic is a word that is often used to describe things that are practical, logical or sensible. People who are pragmatists often seek solutions that are based on real-world realities rather than idealistic beliefs. A pragmatic person may also be more willing to make compromises that could benefit everyone involved in a situation. For example, a pragmatic politician might take into account the interests of other parties in order to reach a deal on legislation that will pass.
Although pragmatism dipped in popularity in the early 20th century, it has experienced a revival since the 1970s. Richard Rorty turned to pragmatism in an attempt to rectify what he saw as mainstream epistemology’s key mistake, which is the naive assumption that language and thought somehow mirror the world. His bold and iconoclastic attacks on this’representationalism’ birthed a ‘neopragmatism’ that has been embraced by many influential recent philosophers, including Hilary Putnam and Robert Brandom.
In addition to epistemology, pragmatism is also a major philosophical concern in metaphysics, aesthetics, ethics and the philosophy of language. In the latter area, a ‘pragmaticist theory of meaning’ views words as having both semantic and pragmatic significance. The former reflects the grammatical meaning of a sentence or phrase, while the latter relates to how that sentence or phrase is interpreted in a particular context.
Pragmatism is also important for philosophical approaches to education and therapy. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of counseling that emphasizes a practical, problem-solving approach to dealing with life’s challenges. This type of therapy is often more successful than the idealistic, long-term approach to dealing with mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.
Similarly, a pragmatic political philosophy might be more useful than the more theoretical, ideological arguments that are typically associated with philosophical schools such as Kant and Hegel. This approach to politics might have more widespread appeal, given that most people are interested in a realistic and workable solution to their problems.
A number of liberatory philosophical projects in areas such as feminism (Seigfried 1996), ecology (Alexander 2013) and Native American philosophy (Pappas 1998) now look to the pragmatist tradition for guidance. Jurgen Habermas’s discourse ethics, which offers a framework for a democratic critique of the modern world and draws on Peirce’s concept of community of inquiry, has been particularly influential in this regard. The pragmatic maxim that he advocates, which posits that only through shared communication can truth be forged, offers a viable alternative to the instrumental rationality that is currently colonising the human ‘lifeworld’. This ‘pragmatic normative’ view is an important element of his wider philosophy of communication, which is influenced by both a neo-Marxian and hermeneutic stance.
