201 DOI: 10.35218/rae–2024-0025 Review of Artistic Education no. 28 2024 201 - 207 https://doi.org/10.35218/rae–2024-0025 2. THE PHILOSOPHY OF KANT AND THE BOOTS OF VINCENT Geanina Havârneanu 213 Abstract: This article aims to summarize the Kantian philosophy of visual aesthetics, realize the logical discrimination between plastic aesthetics and the philosophy of aesthetics, the distinction between art object and artwork, and the essentialization of the value significance of the artwork exemplified in a relevant case study: the painting ”Boots” by Vincent Van Gogh. Key words: Kantian philosophy of visual aesthetics, the philosophy of aesthetics, art object versus artwork, Vincent Van Gogh 1. Introduction - The aesthetics of art Aesthetics (etymologically, aisthētikós, which refers to sensory perception) examines the philosophy of aesthetic value, which is determined by critical judgments of artistic taste (Zangwill, 2019). According to Fechner (1876), aesthetics is an empirically comprehensive experiential perception that fundamentally depends on the characteristics of the subject experiencing the experience and the perceived properties of the object. Currently, psychologists and neuroscientists define the field of aesthetics more narrowly, considering the perception, creation, and evaluation of objects that evoke intense feeling (Chatterjee, 2011), at the physiological, phenomenological (experience), and behavioral levels, because aesthetic experience involves the combination of sensory and emotional reactions. This could explain the large variability among individual preferences for art images (Vessel et al., 2012). The function and value of the aesthetics of art The function of aesthetics is a critical reflection on art, culture, and nature (Riedel, 1999). The aesthetic value of a generic object, paradigmatically speaking, a work of art or a natural environment, is its capacity to have positive value (by inciting pleasure) or negative value (by inducing unpleasantness) when it is seen or experienced it aesthetically. In other words, the absolute aesthetic value of an object can be quantified by the number of subjects who prefer the object in question. Art aesthetics versus art philosophy A distinction must be made between the aesthetics of art and the philosophy of art. Aesthetics considers why people like some works of art and not others and how art can affect their moods and beliefs (Munro, 1986). The philosophy of art specifically studies how artists imagine, create, and execute works of art and how receptors use, enjoy, and have critical views of art. Both aesthetics and philosophy of art seek to answer the following questions: How exactly functions art, and what makes it valuable? 2. The philosophy of art in Kant's conception If we are to establish what art is, I think the most eloquent definition is the one Kant gave (1790), which differentiates art from craft because art is a free game that assumes certain constraints intrinsic to the type of art conceived. In addition, art also 213 Lecturer PhD, ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Iaşi, România, email: geanina.havarneanu@uaic.ro, ID ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2402-0789