Pragmatic is a word that gets used a lot to describe people, actions or ideas that are practical and reasonable. It’s a contrast to idealistic, which is often used to describe things that are unrealistic or unobtainable.
Pragmatism is a philosophy that was developed by Charles Peirce and William James in the 1860s. Its key ideas originated in discussions at a so-called Metaphysical Club, which included Peirce and James as well as other philosophers, psychologists and philosophically inclined lawyers. Peirce and James later published papers on the subject, which brought pragmatism to wider attention.
Essentially, pragmatism is an approach to life that stresses the importance of results and practical considerations over theories about the nature of reality. It argues that the only thing that matters is what works in real life, and that this is the only guide to follow. The word pragmatic has its origins in the Latin verb praegere, meaning ‘to take up’ or ‘take on’, and is an alternative to more theoretical approaches to life such as idealism or naturalism.
The idea of pragmatics is about interpreting the world and communicating with others in a way that takes into account social, cultural and situational factors. It’s a bit like semantics in that it deals with the literal meaning of words and phrases, but goes a step further by considering how those words are understood in different situations.
As an example, say someone says something like ‘That painting was discovered by humans in its location next to the tree’. That statement might work in one context, but not in another. That’s because the phrase ‘discovered by humans’ has multiple meanings that work in the same context, and a person needs to be pragmatic about what context they are using it in, so they can disambiguate the meaning of what was actually meant.
This is the sort of pragmatic knowledge that allows us to understand how ambiguous language can work in reality, and it’s an important part of understanding how communication really works. That’s why pragmatics is an essential component of learning any language, and it’s also why understanding the concept is a necessary part of teaching English to speakers of other languages.
In terms of a philosophical movement, pragmatics has a long and varied history. It has influenced people as diverse as John Dewey, Jane Addams and W.E.B Du Bois. In more recent times, it has attracted an increasing number of followers in South America, Scandinavia and central Europe. It’s also becoming more popular in China, as a new generation of academics begins to explore the philosophy’s relevance in their own countries and regions.
However, despite its rich heritage and broad appeal, pragmatism still has a tendency to be misunderstood or neglected. Typical neopragmatists focus on linguistic meaning and ignore the fact that pragmatics is about the whole of human experience, not just the words we use. This neopragmatist neglect of one of classical pragmatism’s key concepts has become a major point of contention among scholars and practitioners of pragmatics.