Aesthetic values and artistic values

In a recent debate D. McIver Lopes argues for the identification between artistic and aesthetic value while R. Stecker contests defending the existence of non-aesthetic artistic value and the possibility of art without aesthetic value at all. My thesis is that we should keep the conceptual distinction between art and the aesthetic, even when aesthetic value can be considered the non-exhaustive but still characteristic value of art. This is because an experiential account of aesthetic experience shows that aesthetic value always needs to be taken into account when understanding a work of art. On the other hand, the expansion of the scope of aesthetics beyond the limits of the artistic reinforces the distinction between them. However, when this wider scope has been built rejecting an art-centered view of aesthetics, a basic common account of the notion is needed to avoid assumptions of the nature of the aesthetic that has been proven wrong for art as much as for non-artistic objects.