different between pragmatic vs positivism

English

Alternative forms

• pragmatick (archaic)
• pragmatique (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle French pragmatique, from Late Latin pragmaticus (“relating to civil affair; in Latin, as a noun, a person versed in the law who furnished arguments and points to advocates and orators, a kind of attorney”), from Ancient Greek ??????????? (pragmatikós, “active, versed in affairs”), from ?????? (prâgma, “a thing done, a fact”), in plural ???????? (prágmata, “affairs, state affairs, public business, etc.”), from ?????? (práss?, “to do”) (whence English practical).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?æ??mæt?k/

Adjective

pragmatic (comparative more pragmatic, superlative most pragmatic)

1. Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.

   The sturdy furniture in the student lounge was pragmatic, but unattractive.

   • Nor indeed are these restrictions pragmatic in nature: i.e. the ill-formedness of the heed-sentences in (60) is entirely different in kind from the oddity of sentences like:
     (61) !That man will eat any car which thinks he?s stupid
     which is purely pragmatic (i.e. lies in the fact that (61) describes the kind of bizarre situation which just doesn?t happen in the world we are familiar with, where cars don?t think, and people don?t eat cars).

2. Philosophical; dealing with causes, reasons, and effects, rather than with details and circumstances; said of literature.
3. Interfering in the affairs of others; officious; meddlesome.

Synonyms

• (practical): down-to-earth, functional, practical, utilitarian, realistic

Antonyms

• idealistic

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

pragmatic (plural pragmatics)

1. A man of business.
2. A busybody.
3. A public decree.

Further reading

• pragmatic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• pragmatic in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• "pragmatic" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 240.

Romanian

Etymology

From French pragmatique.

Adjective

pragmatic m or n (feminine singular pragmatic?, masculine plural pragmatici, feminine and neuter plural pragmatice)

1. pragmatic

Declension

English

Etymology

From French positivisme, from positif (“positive”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p?z?t?v??zm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?z?t?v??zm/

Noun

positivism (countable and uncountable, plural positivisms)

1. (philosophy) A doctrine that states that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only come from positive affirmation of theories through strict scientific method, refusing every form of metaphysics.
2. (law) A school of thought in jurisprudence in which the law is seen as separated from moral values; i.e. the law is posited by lawmakers (humans); legal positivism.

Antonyms

• (in philosophy): antipositivism

Derived terms

• logical positivism
• legal positivism
• neopositivism

Translations