Pragmatic is a word often used to describe someone or something that is practical and reasonable. It’s often contrasted with idealism, in that pragmatists are willing to compromise or sacrifice their ideals for the sake of getting things done. However, being pragmatic is not necessarily a bad thing. Most people can navigate life with a healthy balance of pragmatism and idealism.
The philosophical movement of pragmatism is a broad one that covers many different theories and ideas. Some of these ideas include the idea that ideas are tools, and not truths in themselves, and that a person’s understanding of something is based on how they use it. It also includes the idea that there is no objective reality, and that everything is subjective to individual perspectives.
Another theory of pragmatism is that language uses context to determine meaning. This is called pragmatics and is very important to understand when talking about communication. For example, if you say “I have two sons,” it only makes sense if it is within the context of a conversation where someone asks if you have any children. If you said it to a stranger, it would have no meaning whatsoever. This is because the context in which a statement is made allows the speaker to share information that is relevant to the situation.
A third theory of pragmatism is that morality and ethics are not necessarily based on fact. Instead, they are based on what works and what does not work. While this is not necessarily a bad idea, it can be difficult to apply this theory when trying to make decisions about morality and ethics. It can be hard to know what “works” when there is no clear way to measure success or failure.
Many pragmatists have focused on ethics and morality because it is one of the most complicated and challenging areas of philosophy. This is because a lot of different factors come into play when making ethical and moral decisions. For example, a person’s social status, their age, and their experience can all influence how they view a given issue.
There are several flaws with pragmatism, particularly in its application to ethics and morality. Most people can see that pragmatism completely implodes when it is applied to empirical issues like physics or biology, but when it is applied to morality and ethics, it can be a little harder to detect. For example, if you decide that it is okay to kill your creditor because they are not a good person, this does not fit the criteria of pragmatism because it does not take into account the effects that this action will have on everyone involved. For example, a creditor could lose their livelihood, their family could be deprived of a productive member, and the community could be impacted negatively. While this action may have “worked” for you, it was not a good choice because of the consequences that it had on other people.