Disgusting, Enigmatic, Inorganic: Mario Perniola, the Dank Humanities, and the Role of the Philosopher in Contemporary Culture

Abstract

What separates Mario Perniola from other philosophers of his generation, is his programmatic inquiry into the dark side of humanities, what I here call ‘dank humanities’ – with a focus on topics hard to catch, and sides of experience and interpretation which evade simple pleasure and order. Often his thinking finds a niche where one can feel barely human or sense something that in the end evades interpretation. Suggestive in tone, it inquired into these topics also in a way that made his thinking hard to classify as philosophy, cultural studies and/or psychoanalysis. In my article on his work, I aspire to think of it more commonly as a form of overall humanities, and to see it as a programmatic attempt to nail the potentials of the humanities to reach beyond our pleasures, understanding and safety-driven metaphysics.