Pragmatic thinking is one element of critical thinking that does away with hopes but rather focuses on the practical side and workability of ideas as well as their usefulness. In visual arts, pragmatism is a philosophy that deals with reality. Its opposite is romanticism, which is about individualism, self-expression, and subjectivity. It is opposed to science and reason.

In pragmatic thinking, the emphasis is not in the reason behind the selection of an objective but in realizing that objective. An artist that follows pragmatic thinking sees art as a tool that is used to achieve a desired outcome. A pragmatic artist can use art to make a commentary or a protest or to serve other practical purposes. Pragmatic art emphasizes actions and experiences and not a set of principles or dogmas, hence, artists who are pragmatic in their approach are interested not only in one style or form of art but in various kinds, whatever they consider to be useful for their purpose.

In the same light, pragmatic artists is not concerned about which school or philosophy of art is more superior. They in fact do not believe that one artistic movement, theory or technique is more important than the other for they believe that they can find something useful in each of them. When judging a work of art, a pragmatic thinker looks at what the artist achieved in his or her work, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and the artist’s skill and ability in doing so.

Pragmatic artists do not force their pragmatic thinking on other artists and, hence, seem more secure in their abilities. They do not like lecturing about the supposed purpose, appearance and meaning of art like what most romantics have a tendency of doing. Romantics are the types who generally become incredibly euphoric in front of a painting because art is something like a spiritual or religious experience for them. Romantics believe there is a unified way of practicing art. Pragmatic artists, on the other hand, talk about the different forms of art and the objectives and meanings created by people in present and past Art.

For those who espouse pragmatic thinking, art is not exclusive to select individuals but should be present in the creative life of everyone. This way of looking at art was started by John Dewey in his book, Art as Experience. Dewey and other scholars and artists who adopted pragmatism believe in integrating art and culture with man’s everyday activities and life’s realities. Another notable pragmatic thinker, Joseph Margolis, stressed the complexity of artworks that makes them difficult to comprehend using just one single approach or interpretation.

In the field of entertainment, such as in cinema, the application of pragmatic thinking can be seen in how a filmmaker used, directed and manipulated the tools of the medium to achieve the objective of the film. Some critics of the pragmatic approach say that it makes the process of filmmaking mechanical, leaving no room for exploration in the effort to realize the screenplay visually. In the same way, pragmatic screenplays are viewed as commonplace with predictable characters and plots. The perfect examples of pragmatic movies are feel-good movies which rely in proven formulas so they are entertaining and succeed in connecting with a greater audience but they involve very little, if any, symbolism, reflection and discovery. It is said that pragmatic movies are usually made to serve the purpose of commercialism or making profits.

Such comments, however, are not upsetting to pragmatists because as you know by now they are generally more concerned about answering the question of “how?” than “why?” In pragmatic thinking, what matters most is getting the job done.