Pragmatic is the study of context-dependent meanings in human language. It’s a subfield of linguistics and the philosophy of language. Linguists who specialize in pragmatics are called pragmaticians. It’s also a philosophical school of thought that emphasizes actions and consequences rather than beliefs or ideas. Pragmatics can be applied to many different things, from business practices to political positions and even the way we use Twitter.

The word pragmatic is a reworking of an earlier Latin word, pragma, that means “to do; to take action.” So, it’s a practical philosophy that encourages us to focus on the results of our actions.

It also emphasizes that truth is a matter of what is useful to us, not some metaphysical idea of what really is the case. So, for example, a pragmatic approach to saving wildlife might include more damage control tactics than strict conservation measures. This kind of pragmatic thinking is a good thing because it makes the world a better place, not because it’s based on some preconceived notion of how the world should be.

This pragmatic philosophy of life leads to some interesting implications for truth. For one, it suggests that we should be more tolerant of arguments that sound right but fail to work. After all, if our standard for truth is what’s useful, smart people may be able to come up with arguments that seem plausible but aren’t necessarily true. This pragmatic theory of truth can be a good thing, because it allows us to avoid false beliefs and embrace the ideas that do help us achieve our goals.

There are a few different approaches to pragmatics, varying in disciplines and methodology. Some see pragmatics as a philosophical project, in the Gricean vein; others focus on its interaction with grammar; still other scholars see it as an empirical psychological theory of utterance interpretation. In general, however, most pragmatic theories share some common features.

These include a commitment to the view that meaning is a context-dependent social phenomenon; the assumption that we must pay attention to the way speakers use language; and the notion of communicative intention – a principle introduced by Grice – that states that the goal of communication is for the hearer to recognize the speaker’s intended meaning.

While these features are common, there is no agreement on the exact meaning of pragmatics or the methods used to study it. This is perhaps because, at heart, pragmatics is an attempt to describe how the real world works, and that’s a hugely complicated task. Even so, a pragmatic approach can be helpful in understanding the complex interplay between language and the real world. It might even inspire some new insights in the future. This article was originally published in our April 2021 issue of “The Apothecary.” Subscribe here!