 More than anyone else, Beardsley took a love of the arts, independent of overarching philosophical commitments, seriously, and tried to make sense of it. Although he didn’t automatically defer to pre-reflective opinion about or interest in art, he, like Aristotle, thought they deserved respect and balked at any philosophy of art that didn’t make contact with them, or cavalierly dismissed or overrode them. His was a philosophy of art based on a love of the arts—that, and not a love of philosophy or any agenda, psychological, political, religious, philosophical, or otherwise. The copious examples and discussions of individual works of art in his writings illustrate as much, as do his philosophical arguments and conclusions. Much the same can be said of his concern with, and respect for, but far from automatic deference to, the remarks of art critics.