Pragmatic is a way of thinking that is concerned with results and consequences rather than ideas about what could or should be. Applied fields such as public administration, political science, leadership studies, international relations, conflict resolution and research methodology have incorporated the tenets of pragmatism because of its connection between thought and action. The word pragmatic comes from the Latin praegere, meaning “to be practical.” A person who is pragmatic is concerned with doing what works and leaving behind what doesn’t.
The philosophical foundation of pragmatism is the idea that reality exists only as it is experienced in practice and only insofar as it is helpful in practical inquiries. William James was a major contributor to this school of thought and his work is still influential today. In his writings, he discusses the concept of truth and how belief is a disposition that qualifies as true or false only insofar as it proves useful.
While Royce and James focused on philosophy of inquiry and the nature of truth, other pragmatists such as George Herbert Mead and Mary Parker Follett contributed valuable perspectives to social sciences. Mead, for example, critiqued prevailing individualist ontologies in favor of a more collective view that emphasizes power-with rather than power-over in social interactions. Follett, on the other hand, challenged prevailing assumptions in the field of psychology, developing an expansive notion of democracy that incorporates concepts such as participation and self-regulation.
In the area of language, pragmatism provides a way to understand and use communication in a cultural context. In general, the field of linguistic pragmatics is concerned with understanding what is being communicated as well as how it is being communicated. For example, in the English language classroom, teachers often include pragmatic instruction that focuses on teaching students how to interact with native speakers of the target culture using appropriate vocabulary and idioms.
The pragmatist perspective on language is a powerful tool in the study of cross-cultural communication. For example, a teacher can use pragmatics to help students learn the nuances in greetings, requests, complaints, invitations, and apologies. This instruction typically includes home and target cultures as well.
Pragmatics is also an important part of the research in pedagogical theory and language learning. Several studies show that training in pragmatics improves comprehension and production skills. These studies have also shown that pragmatics should be taught from the beginning of a language learners’ development.
Philosophical pragmatics is a broad field of inquiry that encompasses many sub-fields including philosophy of language, philosophy of science, ethics, sociology and philosophy of mind. The pragmatist approach to the philosophy of language offers numerous insights that have broad applications in other areas. The pragmatist perspective has been used to explore issues such as knowledge representation, communication breakdowns, and the influence of emotions on perceptions of reality. For example, a pragmatic analysis of Shakespeare’s Othello would reveal how the cunning and deceitful Iago manipulates his wife Desdemona by shaping her thoughts through his words.
