person1915-1985

Monroe Beardsley

Disciplines:

Summary

American philosopher and aesthetician who co-developed New Criticism's theoretical underpinnings and argued for the autonomy of the artwork from authorial intention and reader response.

Core Contribution

Co-authored The Intentional Fallacy (with W. K. Wimsatt): the meaning of a work is not determined by the author's intention; co-authored The Affective Fallacy: the work's meaning is not determined by reader response. Developed the concept of the aesthetic point of view as a distinct mode of engagement.

Key Spikes & Highlights

Insisted the poem itself — not the poet's mind or the reader's feelings — is the locus of meaning, a formalist stance that shaped Anglo-American literary criticism for decades.
Developed a neo-Kantian account of aesthetic experience as a distinct mode of attention characterized by unity, intensity, and complexity.

Notable Works & Achievements

Aesthetics: Problems in the Philosophy of Criticism

The Aesthetic Point of View

The Intentional Fallacy

Historical Influences

Clive Bell I. A. Richards John Dewey

Intellectual Lineage

New Criticism Anglo-American Aesthetics Analytic Philosophy

Contemporaries & Peers

Nelson Goodman Arthur Danto George Dickie

Minds Influenced

George Dickie Arthur Danto Noël Carroll

Intellectual Posterity

Intentional Fallacy Affective Fallacy Aesthetic Autonomy

Discussing