Pragmatic is a word that is often used in a positive way to praise choices or actions that are considered practical and reasonable. It’s also often applied to political positions or actions. Being pragmatic means that you’re focused on the results and consequences of your decisions rather than what could or should be. It’s a trait that can help you navigate life’s challenges more effectively and ensure that the outcomes of your work are aligned with your long-term goals.
What is pragmatism?
Pragmatism is a philosophical approach that emphasizes action and experience over ideas or theories. It’s a view that is commonly found in fields like business, law, and social sciences. The main tenets of pragmatism are that truth and reality are not objective but rather contextual, and that beliefs are valid only when they have some real world impact. Applied pragmatics is a discipline that seeks to understand the context of utterances and how they are perceived by listeners.
The philosophies of William James, Charles Sanders Peirce and John Dewey are associated with pragmatism. These three thinkers have different approaches to the philosophy, but they all agree that there is no one true truth, and that reality is based on experiences and outcomes.
For example, according to James, something is true only if it has some practical consequence. He also argued that there is no objective way of determining the meaning of words and that meaning is constructed by each individual speaker through their interaction with their environment. A pragmatic perspective on truth leaves open the possibility that religious experiences may have transcendent truths.
While pragmatism is not an ideology or political movement, it has been influential in areas of science, education, and research. It has been incorporated into disciplines like public administration, management, leadership studies and organizational theory. Pragmatism is a framework for understanding how societal and organizational realities are shaped by individuals’ interactions with their surroundings. It also allows researchers to focus on the value and meaning of research data through an examination of its practical consequences.
The research methodology associated with pragmatism is grounded in the belief that knowledge is actionable. This helps researchers steer clear of metaphysical debates about the nature of truth and reality and instead focus on generating knowledge that has concrete, real world implications. It also helps researchers to surface complex themes and issues that are hidden in formal documentation or rhetoric. For example, in a project investigating informal learning practices within NGOs, pragmatism allowed the sequencing of data collection to be flexible, so that the research was informed by onsite observations and fieldwork rather than relying solely on written documentation. This flexibility enabled the research team to incorporate changes in respondent organisations’ practices during the study, without jeopardizing the validity of their findings. This is a key feature of pragmatism that differs from other qualitative methodologies.