People who are described as pragmatic tend to be seen as practical and logical. They are willing to take a realistic view of the world and consider options or courses of action that take social and cultural context into account. In a political sense, people are referred to as pragmatic when they take into account arguments from both sides of an issue, instead of simply taking one side or the other. The word pragmatic also has a positive connotation when applied to things such as a person’s choice of career or political position. Many people choose to be pragmatic about politics and life in general and try to balance idealism with pragmatism, striking a healthy middle ground between the two.
Pragmatic is related to semantics, but it is the contextual meaning of language that focuses on ambiguity, indexicality, speech act theory, conversational implicature, and other aspects of communication theory. It tries to understand the ways that context influences interpretation and how different languages work in particular situations or social settings.
There are different ways to approach the study of pragmatics, but most scholars split it into ‘near-side’ and ‘far-side’ approaches. Near-side pragmatics deals with what a speaker says and the circumstances of their utterance, while far-side pragmatics is concerned with what happens after the utterance: interpreting the speaker’s intention from the perspective of the listener, understanding discourse ethics and power dynamics, analyzing deixis, and exploring politeness strategies.
The pragmatist philosopher John Dewey believed that pragmatics is important because it focuses on the real world and how people actually communicate with each other. His ideas about pragmatics have influenced many disciplines, including education and philosophy.
One of the main ideas of pragmatism is that reality is a dynamic process, rather than something fixed and unchanging. This is a key difference between pragmatism and other philosophical schools of thought such as utilitarianism, which tend to focus on abstract concepts such as truth or happiness.
A pragmatic approach to life and politics is often viewed as a more healthy alternative to totalitarian ideologies such as fascism. Its philosophies can be applied to everything from social change to personal development.
Teachers are often encouraged to include pragmatics in the classroom as it helps students develop their ability to understand different cultures, social expectations, and communication norms. For example, a teacher may use an activity in which they present students with a scenario and ask students how they would respond to it. Considering things like the age of the speakers, the relationship between them, the context, and past experiences can help students make more appropriate choices in how to respond. It’s also important for students to understand that communication is a two-way street and that they should be prepared to receive responses from others as well as give their own. Ultimately, being a pragmatic thinker is about maximizing the chances that your actions have the desired effect and minimizes the chance of negative consequences.
