 Although Beardsley might regard (a) as an acceptable consequence of his argument, at least if “unbridled anachronism” were replaced with a less loaded term, he’d undoubtedly be unhappy with (b) and (c). (b) challenges the objectivity of criticism, something that he’s at pains to establish, and (c) endangers his comprehensive outlook on art and art criticism. Perhaps that’s why he later seems to have renounced the argument, even if only implicitly (cf. Aesth: li).