East Asian Journal of Philosophy Vol.2, n.2 (2022) Margolis on Deőning Art James O. Young University of Victoria * Abstract | Joseph Margolis’ writings on deőnitions of art, which often take the form of a debate with Morris Weitz, are under-appreciated. Margolis agrees with Weitz that the concept of art is open in the sense that works can be admitted to the class of artworks when these works do not have all of the properties thought to be necessary and sufcient for membership in the class prior to the time of its ad- mission. Margolis also agreed that we cannot go back to the old project of deőning art by determining the real essence of art. Nevertheless, he does not abandon the project of deőning art in terms of necessary and sufcient conditions. These con- ditions are not, however, read of the real essence of art. Traditionally, the process of deőning art began by inspecting artworks to determine what makes them valu- able. Margolis realised that the only way forward at this point is to decide what is valuable and then decide what is art. Margolis’ approach has the consequence that deőnitions of art are what C.L. Stevenson (1938) called persuasive deőnitions. Keywords | Deőnitions of Art; Joseph Margolis; Morris Weitz; Aesthetics; Persuasive Deőnition * Correspondence: James O. Young ś Department of Philosophy, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 1700, STN CSC, Victoria, B.C., Canada, V8W 2Y2. Email: joy@uvic.ca DOI: 10.19079/eajp.2.2.1