ABSTRACT
Aesthetic identity is determined by the inherent and "residual" qualities of a painting that result from the combination of plastic or aesthetic elements such as line, hue, tonality, texture, saturation, shape, form etc. The logical problem that underlies the approach was formulated by Monroe Beardsley and William Wimsatt nearly four decades ago, as the intentional and affective fallacies, both species of the genetic fallacy. The intentional fallacy is confusion between the poem and its origins, a special case of what is known to philosophers as the genetic fallacy. The affective fallacy is confusion between the poem and its results it begins by trying to derive the standard of criticism from the psychological effects of the poem and ends in impressionism and relativism. The two common mistakes that arise in art criticism and in theological interpretations of art are related to these fallacies. Finally, this chapter looks at representative examples from the work of Catholic and Orthodox theologians and philosophers.
