Pragmatic is a philosophical theory which holds that reality is fundamentally plastic, and that human understanding of the world is shaped by the individual’s various interests and needs. It also argues that the molding of concepts, hypotheses and theories is subject to the critical objective of maximum usefulness according to humanity’s many purposes. It was a response to idealism and evolutionary theory, which emphasized the “plastic” nature of existence. It was also critical of moral and metaphysical doctrines which relegate change and action to the “merely practical,” on the lowest level of value.
A key concept in pragmatics is “contextualized” meaning, which refers to the way an utterance’s meaning can be determined by the context in which it is spoken or written. It is a theory which is often applied to the interpretation of legal documents, and it is also used to explain ambiguity and vagueness in language. In fact, a great deal of the study of language which is done in the field of pragmatics can be considered an application of semantics, syntax and semiotics.
Pragmatism was developed primarily in the 1870s, when its progenitors gathered for informal discussions at the “Metaphysical Club” in Cambridge, MA. The group included proto-positivist Chauncey Wright, future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and two then-fledgling philosophers who went on to become the first self-consciously pragmatists: Charles Sanders Peirce, a logician, mathematician and scientist, and William James, a psychologist and moralist armed with a medical degree.
While pragmatism may not be as well known as some other philosophical schools, its ideas have been influential in linguistics, psychology and law. It is one of the seven linguistic frameworks that build the foundation for language study, along with phonetics, phonology, morphology, grammar, syntax, semantics and semiotics.
The word ‘pragmatics’ is an adjective that means ‘dealing with things sensibly and practically.’ The study of pragmatics is often compared to the fields of semantics, syntax and semiotics because it involves both the literal linguistic meaning of expressions as well as their non-literal usage in physical or social contexts.
Philosophers who are pragmatists generally agree that the formation of concepts, hypotheses and theories should be subjected to the critical objective of maximum usefulness. In addition, a pragmatic approach to philosophy is particularly responsive to the need for flexibility in our thinking and the need to be open to change. As such, it has been a philosophical home for a wide range of liberatory projects in areas such as feminism (Alexander 2002), ecology (Seigfried 1996), Native American philosophy and Latin American philosophy. In addition, mainstream analytic philosophers such as Quine (1908-2000) have shown qualified enthusiasm for elements of pragmatism’s legacy.