Some theorists argue that literary critics should strive to be value-neutral in their literary criticism  These theorists maintain that by exposing the meaning of literary works without evaluating them, critics will enable readers to make their own judgments about the works' merits  But literary criticism cannot be completely value-neutral
Thus, some theorists are mistaken about what is an appropriate goal for literary criticism
The less readers understand the meaning of a literary work, the less capable they will be of evaluating that work's merits.