Pragmatic is a philosophical term that describes the way in which human language and other forms of communication are used. It is a broad field that encompasses many different subfields including semiotics, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, ethics and philosophy of action, linguistics, cognitive semantics, communication theory and anthropology. Applied fields such as public administration, management studies, political science and leadership studies have also incorporated pragmatic ideas.
The term pragmatic is often used as a synonym for realistic, and it is often associated with a positive approach to problems. For example, a person who takes a pragmatic approach to saving wildlife is more likely to be successful than someone who is only interested in idealistic views. The word pragmatic is also used to describe a political position that is based on practical considerations rather than an ideological belief system.
Philosophers who are considered to be pragmatic usually believe that all knowledge is limited and thus not perfect or comprehensive. However, this does not imply that knowledge is meaningless, as some people have argued. Instead, pragmatism is a philosophy that reconciles anti-skepticism and fallibilism by arguing that some knowledge is practical and valid even if it cannot be proven or disproven.
William James was one of the most influential proponents of pragmatic philosophy. He developed the pragmatist doctrine and formulated it into a system of philosophical thought that is still widely applied today. James’s pragmatism has implications for many different areas of philosophy, particularly philosophy of religion and ethics. His metaphysics, for example, is a pragmatic naturalism that leaves room for faith but does not deny the existence of transcendent realities.
Pragmatics is distinguished from semantics by the fact that it focuses on the uses of language rather than the objects that words may denote. Pragmatics includes the biotic aspects of semiosis, which is defined as the interaction between signs and their interpreters. It is therefore a pragmatic science, whereas semantics is a descriptive one.
Contemporary pragmatists are divided into at least three different general categories: those who see pragmatics, in Grice’s vein, as a philosophical project; those who focus on its interaction with grammar; and those who view it as an empirical psychological theory of utterance interpretation. There are also subfields of pragmatics, such as computational, theoretical and experimental; game-theoretical, clinical and neuropragmatics; intercultural and interpersonal; and historical pragmatics.
There is a strong association between pragmatism and the American democratic political ideology. This association is due to the fact that many of the philosophers who are considered to be pragmatists were Americans, including Jane Addams, George Herbert Mead and John Dewey. Despite this, the philosophy has a global application and is influential in many countries. In addition to philosophy, pragmatism has been applied to other disciplines including psychology, sociology and economics. In particular, some of the most notable pragmatists in psychology include Seymour Caplan, James Hillman and Michael Cole.