Pragmatic is the study of language as it relates to meaning. It focuses on context and implied meanings. It is considered a pragmatic approach to language because it deals with how we understand one another and how we communicate.
Among the first self-consciously pragmatic philosophers were Charles Sanders Peirce and William James. The former was a logician, mathematician, and scientist, the latter was a physician and psychologist. These men believed that science and experience could provide a rich basis for understanding and criticizing human institutions and practices.
As a philosophical movement, pragmatism has undergone numerous incarnations and is still evolving. In the early 1870s, Peirce led a group of Harvard-educated men in informal philosophical discussions, called The Metaphysical Club. The club included the proto-positivist Chauncey Wright and future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, both of whom later became avowed pragmatists.
Peirce and his followers emphasized the importance of incorporating experience into philosophy. They also emphasized that truth was not simply a matter of correspondence. Truth was a process of finding out what works in practice, or in other words, what is practical. Essentially, they were pragmatists who were skeptical of dogmatic theories and were looking for a more flexible way to understand the world around them.
One of the major problems with pragmatism is that it is difficult to define. This is because a theory or an idea does not have to be as rigidly defined as something like a scientific principle. For example, “The fact that you ate all those cookies did not make you gain weight” is true in a literal sense. However, a listener will interpret this as an accusation that the speaker is calling his friend fat. This interpretation depends on the social context in which this utterance is heard.
The word pragmatic is often misused or misunderstood, especially by people who are not familiar with the philosophy of pragmatism. To be pragmatic means to be guided by one’s own experiences and observations rather than by theory. For instance, if a friend breaks up with you, you might be described as being pragmatic in that you weighed the consequences and probable general welfare before breaking up with them.
Teachers can introduce pragmatics in their classroom by using activities that focus on language functions such as greetings, giving advice, apologizing, and closing a conversation. These can be tied to the content of textbook lessons or can be taught as a separate unit. For example, in a classroom lesson on apologizing, students might practice using appropriate greetings with speakers and locations that are randomly chosen from a deck of cards. By doing this, they can learn how to adapt their language to different situations and cultures. As a result, they will become more competent communicators. This is a goal that all educators share. This is why pragmatics should be a core part of any educational program.