Pragmatic is a word that describes something that is practical, reasonable or sensible. It can also be used as an adjective to describe people or things that are practical in thought and action. The word pragmatic can also be contrasted with idealistic, which refers to a lofty and impractical idealism.
Pragmatism is a philosophical perspective that emphasizes the importance of human purpose and action. It also places a high premium on utility as the basis for truth and reality. This means that if an idea, belief or act is not useful to humans it cannot be considered true or real. Moreover, pragmatists believe that the world is a kind of laboratory where human aims and values develop and that people should adjust their ideas to the prevailing circumstances in order to achieve success.
While pragmatism is rooted in the philosophy of utilitarianism, it also draws on several other fields of study. These include anthropology, sociology and psychology. It is this combination of disciplines that gives pragmatics its broad and sweeping scope. The term pragmatics is often used to refer to the study of language and how we use it to communicate with one another, but the discipline actually encompasses much more than that. It is, in fact, a field of study that examines the whole context in which an utterance occurs and how that influences its meaning.
To illustrate how the field of pragmatics is broad and encompassing, consider that even a simple sentence can have different meanings to different speakers. For example, the phrase “I have two sons.” While to a child, this statement may simply mean that the speaker has two boys; for an adult, it may indicate that the speaker is monogamous. The semantics of the sentence changes, as does its pragmatics, based on the situation in which it is spoken and the social context of its use.
This is why a pragmatic approach to research can be so powerful. It enables researchers to uncover the nuances of an organizational process that are rarely surfaced in formal documentation or in the rhetoric of staff. As a result, a pragmatic approach to research can yield richer and more meaningful findings than the more theoretical and abstract approaches such as those favored by some academics.
As with any theory, however, pragmatism does have some flaws. One is that it is essentially a form of relativism because the concept of what works and what does not is purely subjective. This is especially the case when pragmatism is applied to ethical or moral issues. In that case, it can easily implode because, logically, morality is a matter of what feels right rather than what does or doesn’t work. This is why pragmatism is not widely accepted in the scientific community.