This article is written in the genre of specialized theoretical biography with elements of a thought experiment, inevitable in philosophy of consciousness. The central theoretical problem for the author of this text is the origin of the aesthetic theoretical consciousness of one of its most prominent thinkers who happened to speak and to write in Russian. The author is interested in how one of the most influential analysts of the historical philosophical legacy of all those who worked during the Soviet period came to study aesthetic affairs. This interest is not accidental: the author has long ago expressed his view on the process of formation of aesthetics in its explicit form, according to which the theoretical role of Immanuel Kant’s Critiques is the key in this process. Valentin Ferdinandovich Asmus’ scholarly interest in philosophy was largely initiated by the aesthetic sphere of cognitive problems; this became the subject of his dissertation, the first for which the degree of Doctor of Philosophical Sciences was awarded in the USSR. Meanwhile, of the many figures Asmus touched upon in his works, several are devoted to Kant. One of these – a study dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the Konigsberg mastermind – has become, perhaps, Asmus’ most well-known work in the field. The author of this article would like to confirm the deliberate focus of this eminent historian of the theoretical legacy of the past and cognitive analyst on the epistemological aspects of aesthetics and Kant’s theoretical heritage. This aim is to provide further, albeit indirect, confirmation of his previously expressed position regarding the role of the author of the Critiques in the development of aesthetic theory in its modern form, and to fill, using the power of a thought experiment, the gaps that still exist in the explanation of V.F. Asmus’ different thematically and methodologically texts, created throughout his creative career.