What, After All, Is a Work of Art?

What, After All, Is a Work of Art? Volume 1 is a scholarly exploration of art philosophy that examines the intersection of historicity and cultural emergence. Joseph Margolis analyzes how art and human identity function as artifactual entities, contrasting these culturally constituted forms with natural entities. This work focuses on the inherent nature of thinking and the role of history in shaping aesthetic understanding.

The text addresses critical debates in art philosophy, including the dispute between modernism and postmodernism and the theories of Clement Greenberg and Arthur Danto. Margolis evaluates the logic of interpretation through the lens of film and the views of Walter Benjamin. By treating the arts as a form of human utterance, this volume challenges traditional scientific models of rationality to propose a broader conceptual reorientation of how we understand art and the self.