Abstract

This article explores the structural role of the reflection on the aesthetics of Ancient Egypt, as well as of Egypt-related metaphors and similes, within the work of Mario Perniola. The author argues that Perniola’s conception of Egypt stands as an open alternative to the traditional Platonic, Christian and Hegelian way of dealing with it as a kind of pre-history of Western civilization. On the contrary, Egyptian art is considered by Perniola as the starting point of a permanent current within Western aesthetics, therefore as an aspect of the aesthetics of contemporary art itself and society. The article thus analyses Perniola’s characterization of an array of contemporary aesthetic phenomena through the lenses of their “Egyptian” dimension and philosophical meaning of the enigma.