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Pragmatism in professional practice

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  • Richard John Ormerod

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the American philosophy of pragmatism. The paper reviews the application of pragmatisms in five selected areas of professional practice: technology, law, politics, medical and social work, and education. Each area is examined for evidence that the ideas of pragmatism have been taken up academically in the research literature. The literature is then examined for evidence that the academic work has permeated the actions of professionals. Each of the chosen practice areas is clearly dominated by pragmatic, instrumental activities. Despite this and a good deal of discussion in the academic literature, there is only limited evidence that professionals, in so far as they exhibit pragmatist behaviour, make any explicit connection with the philosophy of pragmatism. The early pragmatists argued that pragmatic behaviour arises from man's need to solve problems quickly, using his limited understanding of the situation, in order to survive and flourish: no philosophy had been required to guide such behaviour. Today, philosophy is often consulted on questions of ethical and moral dilemmas in most practice areas, but the philosophy of pragmatism may well not feature in such discussions. Experience in operational research (OR) practice is reviewed and compared with that in the five other practice areas. From the reviews, a list of the habits and orientations is synthesized, habits and orientations that could be taken to characterize pragmatism in professional practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard John Ormerod, 2021. "Pragmatism in professional practice," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 797-816, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:srbeha:v:38:y:2021:i:6:p:797-816
    DOI: 10.1002/sres.2739
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Roy, B., 1987. "Meaning and validity of interactive procedures as tools for decision making," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 297-303, September.
    2. R J Ormerod, 2009. "The history and ideas of critical rationalism: the philosophy of Karl Popper and its implications for OR," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(4), pages 441-460, April.
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    5. Richard Ormerod, 2020. "The history and ideas of sociological functionalism: Talcott Parsons, modern sociological theory, and the relevance for OR," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 71(12), pages 1873-1899, December.
    6. R J Ormerod, 2010. "OR as rational choice: a decision and game theory perspective," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 61(12), pages 1761-1776, December.
    7. W Ulrich, 2007. "Philosophy for professionals: towards critical pragmatism," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 58(8), pages 1109-1113, August.
    8. R J Ormerod, 2010. "Articulate intervention revisited," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 61(7), pages 1078-1094, July.
    9. W Ulrich, 2003. "Beyond methodology choice: critical systems thinking as critically systemic discourse," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 54(4), pages 325-342, April.
    10. R Ormerod, 2006. "The history and ideas of pragmatism," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 57(8), pages 892-909, August.
    11. R J Ormerod, 2010. "Rational inference: deductive, inductive and probabilistic thinking," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 61(8), pages 1207-1223, August.
    12. Ormerod, Richard J. & Ulrich, Werner, 2013. "Operational research and ethics: A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 228(2), pages 291-307.
    13. J Mingers, 2000. "The contribution of critical realism as an underpinning philosophy for OR/MS and systems," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 51(11), pages 1256-1270, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael C. Jackson, 2023. "Rebooting the systems approach by applying the thinking of Bogdanov and the pragmatists," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 349-365, March.
    2. Rajneesh Chowdhury, 2023. "Holistic Flexibility for Deploying Systems Thinking as a Cognitive Skill," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 36(5), pages 803-825, October.
    3. Zhichang Zhu, 2022. "Paradigm, specialty, pragmatism: Kuhn's legacy to methodological pluralism," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 895-912, September.

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