Pragmatic is a word that describes someone who is realistic about life and solutions. It is the opposite of idealistic, which refers to people who think highly of things that may never come to pass. People who are pragmatic tend to take action and work toward concrete goals. In business, they are considered down-to-earth and efficient because they know that the best way to make money is by producing results. They also have a strong grasp of how to handle real-life problems, such as managing a workforce and meeting sales quotas. In politics, politicians who are pragmatic make decisions that will help the country rather than focus on ideology or party affiliation.
Pragmatism is a philosophy that focuses on the connection between thought and action. Its roots are in American philosophers Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey, who developed pragmatism as a criterion of meaning and a full-fledged epistemology with broad implications for the entire philosophical field. The pragmatist approach to meaning is now an accepted method of thought in many applied fields, including public administration, political science, leadership studies, international relations, conflict resolution, and research methodology.
It is also the basis for a number of computer applications and scientific research, such as computational pragmatics and natural language processing. The former addresses the social, cultural, and situational factors that must be taken into consideration when interpreting human language. It includes the idea that what is said is more important than how it is said, and that meaning can be created in conversation by adjusting to context.
The latter combines both semantics and pragmatics to address the different ways that a person might interpret a piece of text or speech. It looks at how the speaker and listener might interact, what their needs are, and the possible ways a person might respond to an utterance. It tries to find the most meaningful responses, while remaining as true to the original utterance as possible. It also examines what can be reasonably interpreted from a given text or speech, and how a particular interpretation might impact other users.
In the field of psychology, pragmatism is used to describe a specific approach to therapy, which is based on practical experience and observation. This approach is a direct alternative to the theoretical and emotional approach of psychoanalysis. It is a popular form of treatment because it is believed to be more effective than traditional approaches to treating mental illness.
The term pragmatic can be used to describe an overall style of thinking or acting, but it is most commonly associated with a pragmatic approach to problem solving. A pragmatic person is concerned with things and facts that they can touch, change or use for a practical purpose (pragma comes from the Greek word for action). This contrasts with an idealist, who is more concerned with ideas and theories, which are less useful in the real world. The term can also be used to refer to a set of principles or beliefs that are centered around certain morals or thinking, as in “dogmatic” or “revolutionary.” These types of views are often considered to be arbitrary and intolerant.