Pragmatic refers to a person, thing, or philosophy that emphasizes practicality. In the context of human communication, pragmatics is the study of the contextual meaning of words and sentences. It contrasts with semantics, which is the study of the meaning that a word has in a dictionary or grammar book, and tries to answer questions like: What do people mean when they say something? How does their cultural background affect the way they use a word? And what are the factors that contribute to the ambiguity of language?
A major tenet of pragmatics is that a proposition’s truth or validity depends on its practical consequences. For example, if you believe that praying will help you, then your belief will probably be a pragmatic one because it will lead to positive outcomes in your life. Pragmatics also argues that knowledge is tentative because all propositions are open to revision based on new evidence or experience.
The founder of pragmatism was a famous American philosopher, William James, who wrote many books about religion and philosophy. He was a broad thinker who attacked mainstream variants of foundationalism in philosophy. His view of pragmatism was called the “varieties of pragmatism.”
There are several types of pragmatics: philosophical, linguistic, and psychological. Philosophical pragmatics focuses on the relation between semantics and utterance interpretation, while linguistic and psychological pragmatics focus on the role of utterance interpretation in our understanding of the world. The pragmatics that psychologists and linguists study is also known as near-side pragmatics, which means that it explains how we interpret and understand speech in the context of our real-world interactions with other people.
Some scholars use the term pragmatics to describe all of the ways that our understanding of a message is affected by things like how we are prompted to respond, what kinds of things we are interested in knowing about the speaker, and what other influences our understanding of the utterance may have. Some pragmatics theories also argue that the stance that we take towards a given utterance depends on our motivations and goals in communicating it, and the beliefs that we hold about our ability to communicate.
The pragmatist perspective is popular in many applied fields, including public administration, leadership studies, political science, and international relations. These fields emphasize the connection between thought and action, and pragmatism is often viewed as an alternative to idealistic, entrenched viewpoints. For example, a leader who decides to settle a lawsuit because it would cost less than fighting it in court is being pragmatic about her decision. The pragmatist approach to problem-solving is often credited with helping organizations achieve success. This is why pragmatism is an appealing philosophical theory to business leaders and others who need to make decisions in the face of uncertainty. Pragmatism is also a favored approach in many business environments because it helps companies to be more responsive to customer needs. Pragmatism is also a favorite in schools because it is believed to be more effective than traditional teaching techniques that emphasize memorizing facts and regurgitating them in an exam.