The field of Pragmatics seeks to understand the ways in which people communicate, and how they rely on non-verbal expressions and actions as much as on words. In this way, it provides a foundation for understanding the real meaning of language in context. It also helps explain how we use slang, how jokes work, and why conversations often seem to go on forever.
A person who is pragmatic is someone who takes realistic options or courses of action into account, rather than only sticking to their ideals. Idealistic people are often told they need to be more pragmatic, but pragmatism doesn’t mean giving up one’s ideals altogether; it simply means being willing to compromise and take the best course of action available.
A philosopher who is a pragmatist is someone who applies the maxims of pragmatism to philosophical questions, such as the nature of truth, goodness, or beauty. They believe that philosophical answers are not purely objective but depend on the individual’s experiences and beliefs, and therefore are not fully known or logically verifiable. This is a major difference from classical rationalism, which has always held that philosophical knowledge is objectively true and knowable in principle.
One of the key elements of pragmatism is the idea that the most important kind of knowledge comes from experience, as opposed to, for example, logical reasoning or empirical evidence. This is a view that most philosophers today, whether classic pragmatists or new neo-pragmatists, embrace.
Many neo-pragmatists have taken this pragmatic approach to the notion of meaning, and the concept of communication more generally. For example, they have emphasized the importance of the’speech act’ model of meaning, which focuses on the intention that a speaker has in saying something. They have also stressed the role of context, both in determining the intended meaning and in communicating it to the listener.
This pragmatist approach to linguistics is called ‘normative pragmatics’, and it is very widely used in contemporary research on linguistic and communication phenomena. In particular, it has become central to the study of how children learn language, and how misunderstandings are avoided or solved.
Pragmatism first developed in the United States around 1870, and currently presents a growing third alternative to the analytic and Continental (‘Continental’) philosophical traditions worldwide. Its chief progenitors were Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, who formulated the ideas of pragmatism in their writings from the late nineteenth century onwards. The philosophy has since spread, with vibrant pragmatist groups developing in countries as diverse as South America, Scandinavia and China. In addition to its linguistic origins, pragmatism has gained a broad intellectual following in areas such as feminism, ecology and Native American philosophy. These groups draw on the ideas of Peirce and James, as well as those of neo-pragmatists such as Brandom.
