The article aims to correlate aesthetics with the science of culture, which is increasingly attracting attention at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries. This correlation can give rise to a whole scientific direction, which could be called cultural aesthetics. In this case, arguments are needed. The fact is that the science of culture today attracts other humanities with its universality and ability to integrate knowledge existing in other sciences. It would seem that this trend in integration does not correspond to the processes of modern science, in which, at the later stages of history, the emphasis was placed not on integration but differentiation. Aesthetics is no exception here. Both philosophy and aesthetics of the twentieth century fragmented into several directions. Nevertheless, as the article proves, in the history of aesthetics and, more precisely, at its early stages, there was an aesthetic system that defined all kinds of aesthetics. This is an ontological aesthetic that excludes the separation of the aesthetic into a separate sphere. Having arisen in antiquity, ontological aesthetics became the aesthetics of being. The aesthetic did not have independence, as it would be in the aesthetics of the New Time, and was a sign of being itself. It was this aesthetic system that had an exceptional universalism. In the history of culture, such a manifestation of the aesthetic constantly returned but still did not become decisive. However, the closer to the twentieth century, the more evident the need for the integration of isolated trends becomes. Having an advantage in integration processes, ontological aesthetics becomes consonant with the science of culture, or rather, with the integrative potential that this science contains. It is this circumstance that should be taken into account by enthusiasts who develop the problems of cultural aesthetics.