Apparently Aquinas had read the Intentional Fallacy before Wimsatt and Beardsley rediscovered it. wc
________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wed, January 16, 2013 4:50:00 PM Subject: Re: Oh, why cahn't the English teach their artists how to paint! In a message dated 1/16/13 4:39:08 PM, [email protected] writes: > - The test of the artist does not lie in the will with which he goes to > work, but in the excellence of the work he produces. > > Thomas Aquinas > Which is another way of saying the intention of the artist is effectively irrelevant when reacting to the artist's work. Or, to put it still another way: There was a school of critics of the past who, when "evaluating" a work, pushed to the forefront the known or inferred intention of the artists; they did this without realizing their approach calls for two quite separate "evaluations": Did he do well; did he mean well. Many a book was written with the intention of striking a damaging blow against prejudice. But. . . .
