Pragmatic is a philosophy and way of thinking that focuses on real world problems and solutions. It also emphasizes the connection between thought and action. The pragmatist approach is applied in fields like public administration, leadership studies, political science, conflict resolution and research methodology.
The word pragmatic comes from the Greek pragma, meaning “to do.” It refers to practical actions that achieve results rather than theoretical ideas and concepts. It is the philosophical movement that advocates an approach to solving problems, which aims to make sense of our everyday life and how we interact with the environment around us.
A pragmatist view of inquiry is that humans continually perform an unconsciously, but important, form of inquiry or assessment that links beliefs and behaviour through a process of decision-making. This approach is known as deliberative inquiry and is a key tenet of pragmatism (Morgan, 2014b).
Pragmatism offers a flexible and adaptive research framework that allows researchers to collect and analyse data in a manner that captures the real-world experiences of respondents within their own organizations. This enables researchers to triangulate their data by collecting both verbal and non-verbal responses, as well as formal documentation and informal observation of staff activities and interactions. In addition, pragmatist research seeks to connect observations and experience to existing theory through reasoning at an intermediate level known as abduction (Friedrichs and Kratochwil, 2009).
One example of a pragmatic principle is Grice’s Modified Occam’s Razor, or the rule that “one should not multiply entities beyond necessity.” The rationale behind this maxim is that it reduces complexity and ambiguity in communication. It is an essential component of a pragmatic philosophy of language and has been used to distinguish between semantics and pragmatics.
Another example of a pragmatic principle is conversational implicature, where a speaker assumes the listener knows what they mean by certain words. For example, if someone says “Are you watching this?” and the other person nods their head, it means they’re probably not.
Developing pragmatic skills is an important part of normal child development, but it’s also critical for children with autism spectrum disorder. Having the ability to communicate feelings, understand social norms and adhere to behavioral expectations is crucial for these children. This article shares seven essential pragmatic skills that can help facilitate both typical and special needs child development.