Pragmatic is an area of linguistic study that encompasses the context of an utterance and its contributions to its meaning. It complements and sometimes overlaps with other areas of linguistic study such as semantics, syntax, and semiotics, which deal with the literal and nonliteral meanings of linguistic expressions and how they are combined into sentences that convey specific meanings. For example, educators and speech pathologists who teach communication skills to children with autism spectrum disorder often focus on pragmatics, the social and physical signals that indicate what a child is trying to say, rather than on the grammatical structure of individual words or sounds.
Whether you are an aspiring philosopher or merely curious, the pragmatist tradition offers many intriguing ideas and insights. Unlike other philosophical movements, such as materialism or idealism, pragmatism lacks a definitive creed, and it is not possible to identify the pragmatist tenets that are endorsed by all pragmatists. Nevertheless, certain themes and theses have loomed large in the pragmatist tradition.
A central theme in pragmatism is the notion that the world is not a closed, objectively knowable entity. Instead, reality is a dynamic social and environmental construct that is continually being modified by the actions of human beings and their interactions with the surrounding environment. This understanding of the world is based on what pragmatists call a “causal chain” or “causal structure,” which is the result of the cumulative effects of a series of interactions.
This world of constant change is a challenge for all of us, but pragmatists are optimistic that a better understanding of the nature of things will help us make the right choices about how to deal with it. In the final analysis, what we choose to believe and how we act in our daily lives will determine the kind of society and future we will live in.
Pragmatists are concerned that the Cartesian picture of reality and knowledge — the idea that objects and events have determinate properties and that our beliefs can be verified objectively — has produced a variety of intractable problems. Their goal is to free philosophy from optional assumptions that have generated these problems and provide a richer view of experience and science. Pragmatists reject the metaphysical claims of classical empirism, empiricism, and naturalism, but they also oppose the more radical anti-realism of Hegelian metaphysics. They therefore fall within a broad range of philosophical traditions.