Abstract: This paper argues that the so-called return of beauty propagated in the aesthetic discourse is actually a return of the topic "beauty." The paper puts forward three claims in support of the argument. 1) The opposition to beauty that we find in art theory from mid-nineteenth century onward and especially in the twentieth century was not directed against beauty in general, but against specific conceptions of beauty. 2) Contemporary pleas in favor of beauty have dubious reasons and effects. 3) The talk about the attractiveness of the beautiful or the sublime, breath-taking beauty and its universality is conspicuously absent from current discourse. The reasons for the current rekindling of interest in beauty are for the most part superficial and external to art and that the aestheticization of the everyday world lies at the basis of this interest. While much of what we find beautiful is culturally conditioned, sublime beauty is not. The attractiveness of sublime beauty arises from sources that are deeper than could be attributed to specific cultures.

Key words: beauty, aesthetic discourse, aestheticization of the everyday world, sublime