Pragmatic focuses on the functional aspects of language and how people use it in real-life situations. It looks beyond the literal meaning of words and considers how utterances are constructed to include implied or negotiated meanings. It is a central feature in how we interact and communicate with each other, and it is important for understanding our intentions as well as what other people are trying to say. Without pragmatics, it would be very difficult to make sense of other people’s actions and to understand what they really mean.
For example, let’s say you have a child who is obsessed with superheroes. This child can tell you every Marvel and DC superhero and what their kryptonite is, but when they are playing with other kids they struggle. This child may be described as a pragmatic child, because they care more about the practical outcome of their actions than about the idealistic and utopian way that a four-year-old should play.
As a philosophical movement, Pragmatism tries to address these issues by advocating a practical and realistic approach. It is often characterized by a rejection of traditional epistemology and an emphasis on the importance of action and experience. It is a philosophy that is very popular in business and management, but it has also found application in education, the humanities, social science and even in law.
Classical pragmatists like Peirce and Rorty criticized the assumption that empirical knowledge rests on an epistemically privileged basis—that is, that some beliefs are more ‘certain’ or more’realistic’ than others. Instead, they argued that knowledge is more like a web than a building, and that it is impossible to know for sure which beliefs are foundational or not (as neopragmatists such as Brandom have pointed out).
This original a posteriori epistemology led to many other pragmatist ideas, including the notion that ‘facts’ are more important than ideas and the idea that people learn by doing rather than by studying abstract theories. As a result, pragmatism is a very broad and diverse philosophical movement.
Contemporary pragmatists have further developed and adapted the original ideas of classical pragmatism, making them applicable to new contexts and problems. They have also been active in other areas of philosophy, such as aesthetics, ethics, philosophy of science and the history of science.
Pragmatic research and evaluation
A key principle of pragmatism is the importance of incorporating both quantitative and qualitative methods in your research. In this way, you are able to triangulate your data and gain a more complete picture of the issue at hand. In addition, it helps you to see how different facets of your data are interconnected and what is truly relevant to your research question (Onwuegbuzie and Leech, 2005).
Another advantage of using a pragmatic approach to research is that it is more flexible than other methodologies. This is especially helpful when conducting research in organizations, where processes are complex and sometimes unclear to outsiders. This flexibility allows you to surface the ‘hidden’ elements of organizational processes that may be obscured by formal documentation or rhetoric.