system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What is Pragmatism?

I've never exactly been sure of whether or not I'm right about what I think it is. Would a correct example of pragmatism be dealing with something in a more effective manner even if it's not moral or ideal for others or how it'd normal be dealt with? Never could understand its meaning from different things being said by sources. Thanks.
gpt
In everyday use, being pragmatic is simply being practical.

For example, you go to a restaurant with a few friends, and you decide to split the bill. Then there's always that guy who starts complaining that he didn't have as many beers as everyone, didn't have the dessert, and so on.

The fair approach would be to get the check, look at what each person had, and divide accordingly. The practical approach is to say "sure Bob, you just pay what you think you had and the rest of us will split the rest. The 4 bucks this will cost you is less annoying than spending the next 15 minutes arguing about who had what, so you take the pragmatic way. If you're the guy who thinks he spent less than everybody, being pragmatic means paying a little extra for the sake of a good time with your friends.

Philosophically, pragmatism is a movement that believes that only actions and their consequences matter. The truth is whatever comes out after the consequences of your actions are known. For instance, arguing if capitalism and socialism is made irrelevant if you can point to the way people live in both types of societies and see that objectively those under one system have a better life than those of the other, however you decide to quantify what a "better" life is.

I don't think that pragmatism needs necessarily be amoral, as your definition suggests. You can be a moral, or ethical person, and still be pragmatic when you take into account the consequences of your actions for all involved. For instance, if you kill your creditor and get away with it, never having to pay your debt, this might seem pragmatic exclusively from your point of view. When you take into account the big picture, though, this is not pragmatic because a life was lost, your community has been deprived of a productive member, an so on.