Affective Fallacy
Definition:
The term “Affective Fallacy” was coined by W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley in 1949 after publishing an article named ‘The Affective Fallacy’. The two critics wrote in reaction to the notion of I. A. Richards, who believed that a poem could be evaluated by the psychological responses it incites in its readers. Contrary to I. A. Richards’ notions, the affective fallacy is defined as the error of evaluating a poem by its effects on the reader, especially its emotional effects. W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley termed this evaluation a “fallacy” or error, as they believed that instead of emphasizing the effects of a literary work, critics should focus on and analyze the features, devices, language, and form of a literary work in order to evaluate a literary work.
Example:
For instance, Tennyson’s poem “Tears, Idle Tears” deals with intense emotions, as the last stanza evokes an intense emotional response from readers. If one evaluates this poem by the responses of readers, it will be considered a false evaluation; however, in order to evaluate it according to Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley’s proposition, one needs to focus on how Tennyson organizes its features, devices, and language. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley believed that due to this error, “the poem itself tends to disappear,” and the reader becomes the limelight in determining the meaning of a literary work.
Intentional Fallacy
Definition:
The term “Intentional Fallacy” was also proposed by W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley. Intentional fallacy refers to the error of analyzing and interpreting a literary work based on the author’s intentions, extratextual evidence, information, and opinions. They believed that the meaning, structure, and value of a text are inherent within the finished, freestanding work of literature itself, and that a literary critic is not concerned with the author’s intended goals and meanings, whether these are stated by the author or are only inferred from our knowledge of the author. Therefore, according to W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley, referencing an author’s external matters such as biography, psychological conditions, and sociocultural elements while evaluating a literary work constitutes a false evaluation and judgement of a literary work.
