The call to be pragmatic is inherently an instruction to give something up — a view, a demand, an ambition. Yet pragmatism is a bit like pornography: self-defined. Take the high-stakes debate over the energy transition, where both sides claim the mantle of realist.

Enter Daniel Yergin. The Pulitzer-winning author of oil history The Prize and master of ceremonies at CERAWeek, the world’s preeminent energy conference, has just co-authored an essay in Foreign Affairs titled “The Troubled Energy Transition.” Sub-head: “How to find a pragmatic path forward.” Yergin’s credentials are impeccable and the title is uncontroversial. The problem arises with that sub-head on pragmatism, largely because of what gets left out.