A person who is pragmatic thinks with a practical mind. They weigh the pros and cons of situations and try to find a solution that works best for everyone. They are not concerned with idealistic outcomes or pursuing their dream job. They know that it might not be possible to achieve the perfect job and are ok with that. They will take a less than ideal job that is still helpful in some way so they can work towards their goals.
Pragmatism is an American philosophical school that emerged in the 1870s and currently presents a growing third alternative to both analytic and Continental philosophy worldwide. Its first generation was initiated by Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), who gave the philosophy its name, and his Harvard colleague William James (1842-1910), who articulated the philosophy’s distinctive methods and ably popularized it. A third member of this group was the Harvard colleague Josiah Royce (1855-1916), who was allied with Peirce’s inquiry-based analysis of truth but ultimately rejected absolute idealism.
The second generation of pragmatists was led by John Dewey (1859-1952), who brought pragmatism to a wider audience and made it an important feature of the American intellectual landscape for half a century. While Dewey had many disciples and imitators, his philosophy lost much of its momentum after he died.
By the 1940s, pragmatism was a relatively minor part of American philosophical life and its influence abroad had faded. This was mainly due to the appearance of the more thoroughly analytic school of thought in Europe and the fact that there lacked a true successor to Dewey.
Modern pragmatists have developed the philosophy into a robust research programme with major contributions in philosophy of language, semantics, philosophy of action, philosophy of religion and education. These ideas are also applied to sociological, economic and political problems.
For example, in discourse ethics, pragmatism provides a basis for an original a posteriori epistemology. It is also a crucial tool in the study of politeness and conversational implicature. Another strand of pragmatism is exemplified by Habermas’s discursive approach to the construction of authentic communicative actions that are free from the distortions of power and ideology.