Mario Perniola

Mario Perniola (born May 20, 1941, in Asti, Italy) is an Italian philosopher, professor of aesthetics and author. Many of his works have been published in English.

Mario Perniola was born in Asti, Piedmont. He studied philosophy under Luigi Pareyson at the University of Turin where he graduated in 1965. While he was reading philosophy in Turin, he met Gianni Vattimo, Umberto Eco, who all became prominent scholars of Pareyson’s school. From 1966 to 1969 he was connected to the avant-garde Situationist International movement founded by Guy Debord with whom he kept on friendly terms for several years. He became full professor of aesthetics at the University of Salerno in 1976 and then he moved to the University of Rome Tor Vergata, where he has been teaching since 1983. He has been visiting professor and invited to universities and research centers, such as the University of Stanford (United States), l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris), University of Alberta (Canada), University of Kyoto (Japan), University of São Paulo (Brazil), University of Sydney, University of Melbourne (Australia), and the National University of Singapore. Perniola has written many books which have been translated into English and other languages. He also directed the journals Agaragar (1971–73), Clinamen (1988–92), Estetica News (1988–95). In 2000 he founded Agalma. Rivista di Studi Culturali e di Estetica, a journal of cultural studies and aesthetics, which is published twice a year. The breadth, insight and many-faced contributions of Perniola’s thought has earned him the reputation of being one of the most impressive figures on the contemporary philosophical scene. His book Miracoli e traumi della comunicazione (2009) (Miracles and Traumas of Communication) gained many awards amongst which the prestigious Premio De Sanctis. His wide-ranging activities involve formulating innovative philosophical theories, writing books, teaching aesthetics, and lecturing worldwide. He divides the rest of his time with his kindred and numerous friends between his apartment-studio in Rome and his vacation home in a quaint town in the Alban Hills, southeast of Rome.

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