Pragmatic is a philosophical approach that emphasizes the connection between thought and action. The theory is applied in fields like public administration, political science, leadership studies, international relations, conflict resolution, and research methodology. Pragmatism is also used in social work, education, and research on social justice issues.
The philosophy of pragmatism was developed in the late 19th century in the United States (Maxcy 2003). The movement began with a discussion group in Cambridge, Massachusetts that included Charles Sanders Peirce, philosopher and psychologist William James, educator John Dewey, and jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. In addition to these founders, numerous academics and non-academics have contributed to the development of pragmatic doctrine over the past century.
A key tenet of pragmatism is that things only have meaning insofar as they help human beings in their inquiry and pursuit of knowledge. For James, for example, a statement that prayers are heard may be true on a psychological level but is not necessarily true on a metaphysical one.
Another principle of pragmatism is that it is a process-oriented rather than a theoretical approach to inquiry. As a practical philosophy, it seeks to promote problem-solving in inquiry and focuses on the values and commitment to democracy that are essential to progress. These values and commitments also establish a natural link between pragmatism and research on social justice issues, including equity, fairness, and freedom from oppression.
The field of pragmatics is a subfield of philosophy that is often viewed as a bridge between semantics and epistemology, with the goal of understanding how language is used in real-life situations and contexts. The field of pragmatics considers what speakers mean when they say or do something, the particular circumstances under which their utterance takes place, and how they manage to communicate their meaning in the face of ambiguity and reference.
As a methodological framework, pragmatism is based on the idea that researchers make choices about research design and methods in a way that is guided by their beliefs about how those choices will influence future outcomes. This emphasis on the empirical over the abstract allows researchers to push aside philosophical arguments, such as those related to ontological and epistemological skepticism, in order to get their research done.
As a result of this emphasis on the empirical, pragmatics is frequently viewed as a form of social constructivism and is sometimes combined with ethnomethodology to produce an approach known as ethnopragmatism. Nevertheless, many scholars have critiqued pragmatism for its relativism and for the lack of an objective criterion for determining what is “real.” The set reprints five of the most significant critics of pragmatism written before World War I, each a formidable philosophical critic. These include the philosopher James B. Pratt, editor of The Monist, who deplored pragmatism’s relativism; the philosopher Paul Carus, who was an advocate for idealism; and the philosopher Albert Schinz, who appealed to Thomistic scholasticism.