Pragmatic focuses on communication and how people interact in order to make sense of the world around them. It has a number of applications, from helping children with autism spectrum disorders learn to speak, to teaching social skills to people who have trouble communicating. It is also used in a variety of fields, including sociology, psychology, and anthropology.
The term pragmatic is related to the philosophy of John Dewey, who was a leading proponent of pragmatism. This philosophy emphasizes action and progress, which is a good fit for social work research on issues like equality and freedom from oppression. Another prominent pragmatist was Jane Addams, the mother of modern social work, who emphasized community-based work to address the needs of people in society.
Pragmatism is a form of philosophical inquiry that stresses the practical nature of knowledge and focuses on problem-solving (Patton 2002). It also emphasizes the role of action in transforming existence. Thus, pragmatists believe that reality is constantly changing and that humans are in a process of becoming.
A key part of pragmatism is its emphasis on the importance of context. It is based on the belief that meaning, not just the lexical content of an utterance, but also its intended purpose, can only be understood in the context of a speaker’s beliefs and the situation in which it is spoken. This is called pragmatism’s theory of meaning.
For example, a speaker might talk about their new car and favorite TV show to someone who doesn’t share their interest in those topics. While the speaker sees this as a simple sharing of information, the listener interprets it as rude monopolization of their time. The listener’s interpretation of the speaker’s meaning is pragmatic, whereas the literal meaning of the words and phrases in the speech are semantics and grammar.
Pragmatics focuses on the contextual factors that contribute to meaning, says Frank Brisard in his essay “Introduction: Meaning and Use in Grammar.” It is often described as “meaning minus semantics,” with semantics referring to the literal meaning of an utterance and grammar involving the rules governing how language is put together. Pragmatics also involves the broader notion of sign, which encompasses the movement of the body, gestures, and tone of voice that accompany speech.
Pragmatism has been associated with the abductive method of inquiry, a scientific approach that moves back and forth between deduction and induction. This enables researchers to draw conclusions from observations and data while remaining open to different possibilities and outcomes. This is a key feature of the philosophy that distinguishes it from epistemological approaches such as postpositivism and constructivism (Goldkuhl 2012).