Pragmatic is a philosophical approach that emphasizes the connection between thought and action. Many applied fields, including public administration, political science, leadership studies, international relations, conflict resolution, and research methodology, have incorporated the tenets of pragmatism.
People who are pragmatic approach situations and decisions with a practical mind. They focus on real-world scenarios, prioritize results and effectiveness, and are often willing to compromise in order to achieve their goals. Pragmatic individuals are also realistic, acknowledging that some things are simply beyond their control, but are able to take steps to manufacture positive outcomes, even in negative situations.
Practicability
Pragmatism is an important philosophy for business because it emphasizes the importance of finding solutions that work in real-world situations. As a result, pragmatic approaches are widely used in leadership and management, where employees must be flexible enough to adjust their plans according to changing circumstances. Being pragmatic is also a critical component of effective communication, which relies on clear and concise language to convey information effectively.
Applied to research, pragmatic approaches are useful for a variety of purposes, such as assessing the validity of research or developing practical applications of findings. Pragmatism is particularly helpful for conducting mixed methods and multimethod research, as it allows researchers to utilize multiple sources of data in a single study. Additionally, pragmatism is a valuable philosophy for developing pragmatic clinical trials, as the results of these studies can be directly applied to patient care or policy development.
While there is much debate over the boundaries between semantics and pragmatics, most scholars agree that pragmatism involves the context dependence of meaning. A number of different formalizations of pragmatics exist, including indexical semantics, the theory of conversational implicature, and speech act theory. Pragmatics is a broad field that seeks to examine the way that words are meaningful in the context of use, and how that meaning can vary from one context to another.
Pragmatic is also a research paradigm that encourages a holistic and collaborative approach to the investigation of human problems. This includes utilizing a wide range of data collection techniques and incorporating the results of previous studies in current investigations. This method allows researchers to gain a more complete understanding of the problem at hand and develop solutions that are best suited for the specific situation.
For example, let’s say your friends are at a bar and someone accidentally spills their drink on you. Instead of spending 15 minutes arguing over who owes what, it’s more pragmatic to just split the check evenly among everyone involved. This will avoid an unnecessary argument and everyone gets to leave happy.
This type of pragmatism can also be seen in everyday life. Consider a situation where you have a chance to volunteer for something, but it will require some travel. You could be a moralist and reject the opportunity, or you could be pragmatic and go for it, knowing that the experience will help your career or personal growth in some way.