My paper explores critical objections to the concept of the artistic canon, conceived as a summary of works with an objective aesthetic value that have stood the test of time. To begin with, the objections of feminist and postcolonial criticism are discussed and examined. However, the sociological objection questioning the axiological foundation of the canon, i.e. the possibility of generally applicable aesthetic judgment, has been identified as the most crucial. My paper proceeds to discuss the theory of ideal perception as a solution to the problem of justifying aesthetic judgments. My aim is to prove that from the axiological perspective, the theory of the ideal critic gets entangled in the never-ending regress of a logical circle, or it eventually finds its justification through a particular social practice. This theory is also problematic in its erroneous assumption of the logical independence of the descriptive and evaluating components of aesthetic concepts. The impossibility of separating the evaluating attitude from the conditions of the use of aesthetic concepts indicates the relative applicability of aesthetic value and the artistic canon, depending on the “personal economy” of the evaluating subject.