Pragmatic (pronounced prag-mat-ik)
(1)
Of or relating to a practical point of view or practical considerations.
(2)
Advocating behavior that is dictated more by practical consequences than by
theory or dogma
(3)
In philosophy, of or relating to pragmatism.
(4)
Of or relating to pragmatics.
(5)
In historiography, treating historical phenomena with special reference to
their causes, antecedent conditions, and results.
(6)
Of or relating to the affairs of state or community (archaic).
(7)
An officious or meddlesome person, especially a priest (archaic).
(8)
In logic, the branch of semiotics dealing with the causal and other relations
between words, expressions, or symbols and their users.
(9)
In linguistics, a sub-field in which the analysis of language in terms of the
situational context within which utterances are made, including the knowledge
and beliefs of the speaker and the relation between speaker and listener.
1580-1590: From the Late Latin prāgmaticus, (practical), from the Ancient Greek prāgmatikós (practical) equivalent to prāgmat, stem of prâgma (act) from prā́ssein
(to do). Related forms are the nouns pragmaticality
& pragmaticalness and the more common adverb pragmatically.
In
the sense of the meddlesome priest, use dates from circa 1610 in the sense of “meddling;
impertinently busy" and was either short for earlier pragmatical, or from the fifteenth century French pragmatique, from the Latin pragmaticus (skilled in business or law)
from the Ancient Greek pragmatikos (fit
for business, active, business-like; systematic) from pragma (genitive pragmatos)
(a deed, act; that which has been done; a thing, matter, affair,"
especially an important one; also a euphemism for something bad or disgraceful;
in plural, "circumstances, affairs" (public or private, often in a
bad sense, "trouble"), literally "a thing done") from the stem
of prassein & prattein (to do, act, perform), related
to the modern practical.
From
the 1640s, pragmatic came to be used in the sense of "relating to the
affairs of a state or community" and the modern sense of "matter-of-fact,
treating facts systematically and practically" is from 1853; influenced by
the use in nineteenth century German philosophy of pragmatisch.
The
noun pragmaticism, which as late as 1865 could be used to mean "officiousness",
by 1905 had been adopted by American philosopher CS Peirce (1839-1914) to refer
to the doctrine that abstract concepts must be understood in terms of their practical
implications; he coined the use to distinguish his philosophy from pragmatism.
The
1540s adjective pragmatical (pertaining to material interests of a state or
community) by the 1590s had extended to "concerned with practical results",
the formation from the Latin pragmaticus. It was, during the 1600s & 1700s often
applied in the negative (unduly busy over the affairs of others) which is how
pragmaticism same to be associated with “intrusive officiousness” and meddling
from the 1610s, the layer of "busy over trifles” or “self-important" noted
in 1704.
The
noun pragmatism had by 1825 assumed something like its modern sense, then
meaning “matter-of-fact treatment" borrowed from the Greek pragmat- (stem
of pragma) as "that which has been done". As a philosophical doctrine, it was used in
the English language by 1898 and generally accepted as a borrowing from the
1870s German Pragmatismus. Despite that, it wasn’t accepted as the name a
political theory until 1951 although the historical record can be misleading, a
pragmatist being a "busybody" from circa 1630 yet by 1892, noted as
an "adherent of a pragmatic philosophy”.
Pragmatics
in Theoretical Linguistics
Pragmatics
exists in what practitioners in the field call the symbiosis of linguistics and
semiotics; essentially the study of the ways in which context either is or can
be vital to understanding the meaning(s) of text. Highly technical, it has built a number of
models (sometimes called codes) which, if (sometimes cumulatively, sometimes
lineally) applied, can determine meaning(s) which may not be obvious or
confused by ambiguity. Pragmatics studies
how the transmission of meaning depends not only on the structural and
linguistic knowledge of both speaker and listener, but also on the context in
which the words are used, all pre-existing knowledge of those involved, and
matters of implication and inference.
Properly applied, the ability to understand another intended meaning is
called pragmatic competence.
Basically
the product of squabbles between academics anxious to become dominant in some
aspect of the surprisingly sexy discipline of linguistics, pragmatics was
created in reaction to the structuralist linguistics models of the 1960s. Pragmatics both borrows from structuralism
and builds its own critique, especially from the way structuralism tended
towards finding all meaning at least can
come purely from the abstract space language creates. It probably was a useful discussion to have
but it’s never been entirely clear where semantics ends and pragmatics begins
or if that’s even a helpful way to think about meaning.
The
discipline seemed never to move in the direction of making pragmatics a toolbox
of use to those beyond the field.
Instead, there emerged mysterious forks such as indexicals, intuitionistic
semantics and computational
pragmatics, all of which appear weird beyond immediate understanding.
The Pragmatic Sanction of 1713
Archduchess Maria Theresia (1727) by Andreas Møller (1684–circa 1762), oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
There have been quite a few pragmatic sanctions, the first known to be that issued in Constantinople in 554 by Justinian I (Justinian the Great, 482-565; Byzantine emperor 527-565). Nearly twelve centuries later, the Sanctio Pragmatica (Pragmatic Sanction) was an edict issued in 1713 by Charles VI (1685-1740; Holy Roman Emperor 1711-1740); it was a device to ensure the Habsburg hereditary possessions, could be inherited by his eldest daughter, the sanction necessitated by the lack of a male heir and a law which precluded female inheritance. However, for Charles to promulgate the sanction was one thing, having it respected by others was another and, immediately upon the accession to the throne in 1740 of his daughter Maria Theresa (1717-1780), the expected War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) began.
Had
the pretext of female succession not existed, the desire of other European
states, notably France, Bavaria and Prussia, anxious to gain territorial and
commercial advantage over the Habsburgs, conflict would likely soon anyway have
arisen. The British became involved
because of their geopolitical interests and the Dutch because they wished to
rid themselves of French hegemony; as the war widened, Spain, Sardinia, Saxony,
Sweden and Russia became involved in what was soon a multi-theatre affair on
land and at sea. It was a textbook case
of mission-creep.
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (circa 1707) by Francesco Solimen (1657–1747), oil on canvas, in a private collection.
The war was concluded by the Treaty
of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. Maria
Theresa was recongised as Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary but,
regardless of the impressive but isolated tactical victories which typified
European wars of the era, so inconclusive had been the battlefield that, except
for the Royal Navy’s notable success in the blockade of French ports, things
ended in such a series of stalemates that most of the treaty’s signatories were
hardly content with the terms. Even Maria
Theresa, whose throne had been the ostensible reason for the spilling of so
much blood, resented having to cede what she did though was mollified by the horse-trading
of the Treaty of Füssen (1745) which
permitted her husband to be elected Holy Roman Emperor as Francis I (1708-1765). The British, although satisfied with the
commercial rights gained, would spend years glumly counting the cost.
In
geopolitical terms however, the consequences were profound. In what came to be known as the Diplomatic
Revolution of 1756, the central dynamics in European affairs became the
alliances between Austria and France and between Prussia and Great Britain,
creating a template for the shifting military and political relationships which
would be maintained, adjusted and sundered all through the eighteenth century
in an attempt to maintain the balance of power.
The newly built coalitions, with Russia augmenting the Austro-Franco
alliance, would fight the Seven Years War (1756-1763) in which Britain and
Prussia would prevail, only because of something of a Prussian miracle and the Royal
Navy’s control of the seas.
Under
Germanic linguistic influence, word assumed a handy role as a kind of political
shorthand; article seven of the 1712 Croatian Constitution being remembered to
this day as the Pragmatic Sanction. The
clause permitted a Habsburg princess to become hereditary Queen of Croatia
despite, in a typical Balkan squabble, opposition from both the Hungarian
parliament and royal court. Considered
ever since a symbol of Croatian independence, the Pragmatic Sanction is included
still in the preamble of the Constitution of Croatia.