Current Fellows

This project analyses the apocalypse phenomena along with three categories: self, time, and emotion. These three categories shape an interpretational space for our thoughts about the apocalypse in general, the COVID-19 pandemic in particular, and apocalyptic experiences in the war. As the simplest form of a micro-apocalypse, one takes a personal experience at the border of the subjective present time. An experience flow goes to its limit, the world ceases to exist, and all that remains is the self, which is interpreted as the central entity of personality. This experience is a very short interruption in the flow of consciousness as a brief break of personal being in the world (Polunin, 2011). This micro-break has a specific timing and emotional accompaniment. The discrepancies in the self-experience given directly at the border of the subjective present time and outside the border are of particular interest. Comparing them, we examine how the cognitive system overcomes the periodically appearing micro-apocalypse, taking this mechanism as natural. Then we move from the micro-apocalypse to the social level. At the social level, we analyse the apocalyptic thinking regarding Covid-19 and the war. From person to society, we interpret the social self as a stable group identity. Thus, the model will develop further from the micro-level to the larger social dimension. The resulting theoretical model should interpret apocalypses of different natures - personal, social, economic, and military. This approach should contribute not only to the theoretical modelling of the apocalypse but also to improved communication in society at large.