Pragmatic is a philosophical outlook that is often characterized as a middle of the road position on a variety of issues. This pragmatic approach takes arguments from both sides into account before reaching a decision.
The word pragmatic comes from the Greek pragmatikos, meaning “to act.” The root of pragma, which means action, is also found in praxis, the verb to do something. Pragmatic, in turn, is related to the Latin pragma, meaning “to be useful.” Originally, a pragmatic philosophy sought to provide practical guidance on moral and social matters. Later, a more sophisticated version of the theory emerged that looked at philosophical problems from a utilitarian perspective.
For the most part, pragmatists have thought of themselves as reforming a tradition that included empiricism, although some have even recommended its abolition (though James scrupulously swore that his ideas were not in competition with Peirce’s). In any event, pragmatists have never voted en bloc; they have widely disagreed about the major issues (such as truth, realism, skepticism, perception, justification, fallibilism, conceptual schemes, the function of philosophy, etc.).
James and Dewey were the pragmatists most famously associated with the term. They developed their key ideas in discussions at a so-called Metaphysical Club that met at Harvard around 1870. Other members of the club included the proto-positivist Chauncey Wright and future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Peirce also published a number of philosophical works that advanced some of these pragmatist themes, and he coined the term ‘pragmatism’ in an 1898 lecture.
A generation after the emergence of James and Dewey, the pragmatist movement gained momentum and prominence. However, it soon ran into a brick wall that proved to be its Achilles’ heel: the Progressive professionalization of philosophy as an academic discipline. The reputations of both James and Dewey suffered as a result, and the pragmatist movement lost much of its influence.
The pragmatists of the second half of the twentieth century took up some of the work that had been done by the first generation and made the movement more broadly relevant. Their work has contributed to philosophy, ethics, law, education and social science. Its influence is now widespread.
Contemporary pragmatists are interested in the ways that we use language and how people don’t always say what they mean. Pragmatics studies the kinds of ambiguity that occur in natural speech and writing, and how we disambiguate that ambiguity to make our communication as clear as possible. It is pragmatic knowledge that allows us to politely hedge a request, cleverly read between the lines, negotiate turn-taking norms in conversation and navigate ambiguity in everyday life. It is also pragmatic knowledge that makes it possible to debate politics on Twitter by adopting a middle of the road, pragmatic position that takes arguments from both sides into account. Without such pragmatic knowledge, the political world would be a much more chaotic place! The philosophers who are currently most interested in pragmatism are William Brandom and John Rawls.