Pragmatic is a word that describes something practical and reasonable. It’s often used in a positive way to praise choices or actions that are seen as sensible and logical. It’s also commonly applied to political positions or actions, such as when someone is said to take a “pragmatic” approach, meaning they’re willing to compromise or listen to arguments from both sides of an issue. This pragmatic approach is often praised as being the best course of action, though it’s sometimes contrasted with idealism when discussing politics and policy.
In philosophy, pragmatism is an influential philosophical school that developed from the ideas of American philosophers Charles Sanders Peirce and William James. The key features of pragmatism include an emphasis on the importance of real-world experience, a rejection of absolute truth and a belief that beliefs only have validity insofar as they are useful for inquiry and action.
This philosophy is often viewed as an alternative to the dominant school of thought in western philosophy at the time, which was largely based on idealism and metaphysics. It was not widely accepted at the time, but pragmatism has gained increasing popularity over the past century as more and more people have recognized its value in explaining how we live our lives and make decisions.
What Is the Difference Between Pragmatic and Idealistic?
The pragmatic approach is often contrasted with idealism, which refers to a person’s willingness to stick with their moral values regardless of the consequences. For example, an idealistic person might refuse a job offer from a company that does not meet their moral standards because they believe it will only set them back in their career. However, a pragmatist would be more likely to accept the offer because it is better than nothing and could ultimately lead to them getting the job they want.
Similarly, a pragmatist might be more willing to settle for an outcome in a legal case because they believe it will save money and not harm their reputation. This pragmatic mindset can be a good thing when dealing with business matters, but it can have devastating consequences when applied to ethical and moral issues.
The problem with pragmatic approaches to ethics and morality is that they tend to collapse when they are confronted with empirical challenges. For example, the idea that slavery was a “practical” solution certainly “worked” for plantation owners in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but it did not work well for slaves themselves. For this reason, pragmatism is generally avoided in discussions of morality and ethics. Nonetheless, there are some philosophers who have attempted to incorporate pragmatism into their philosophy, most notably John Dewey and his pragmatic approach to education. Dewey was also an important contributor to the pragmatic theory of art. He argued that art should be viewed as an integral part of human culture, rather than as a pure object of aesthetic appreciation. The concept of pragmatism has also been applied to social science topics, such as in the work of George Herbert Mead and W.E.B Du Bois.