author: Nataliia Radionova
Relevance of the research. Contemporary Ukrainian society is confronting several large-scale challenges simultaneously—pandemic, war, and the accelerated advance of technology spurred by these crises. Together they are radically reshaping the cultural and social landscape of life in Ukraine. The phenomenon of the horrific, despite its evident destructive potential, is fundamentally ambivalent. The experience of the horrific (epidemics, war, technological progress) in the Early Modern era has renewed relevance in light of the global challenges posed by COVID-19, the proliferation of information crises, and rapid technological development, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI).
Problem statement. To carry out a philosophical-anthropological analysis of the phenomenon of the horrific as a constitutive component of the sociocultural transformations of contemporary Ukrainian society amid war, pandemic, and accelerated technological development—taking into account the historical experience of the Early Modern period, when wars, epidemics, and technological innovations set the trajectory of European societies.
Analysis of recent research and publications. Recent years have seen a growing interest in cultural representations of fear and the horrific (R. Hutton, J. Kristeva, Yu. Abashnik, et al.), which offer heuristic analogies for examining the pandemic as a catalyst of sociocultural change (S. Galloway, F. Zakaria, M. Honigsbaum, et al.) and invite a revision of the “horrific” as a politics of the destruction of meaning (V. Ageieva, M. Boichenko, Ye. Bystrytskyi, S. Proleiev, et al.).
Research task. To analyze the ambivalence of the horrific as a source of destruction and cultural-technological progress in Early Modern Europe.
Main material presentation. The Thirty Years’ War, religious conflicts, epidemics, and famine were the principal forces shaping the collective experience of the horrific in the Early Modern era. Despite significant sociocultural advances, the present reproduces similar responses to pandemics, wars, and technological and climatic threats. The parallel drawn between the Early Modern period and contemporary Ukrainian reality—whose internal logic is compounded by pandemic and war—demonstrates that the horrific is a structural constant of human existence.
Conclusions. In the historical-cultural context of the Early Modern era, the persistent sense of dread that characterizes contemporary life emerges more clearly as a structural, organizing principle of experience and behavior. Exploring the constructive potential of the horrific may help forecast pathways for integrating technologies into social life, facilitate the productive mobilization of intellectual and technical resources, and provide a basis for evaluating the effectiveness of policies in social support, culture, and education.
Keywords: human being; sociocultural practices; pandemic; epidemics; progress; technological creativity; lifeworld; the horrific; fear; war; philosophical-anthropological analysis; modernity.
References:
- Bekon, F 2024, Esei abo porady, hromadianski ta moralni (Essays or counsels, civil and moral), per z anhl. Karivets ta I. Karivets, Lviv : Kontur, 248 s.
- Boichenko, M 2021, ‘“Novyi Orhanon” Frensisa Bekona yak metodolohichna peredumova proiektiv modernizatsii yevropeiskoho suspilstva (Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum as a methodological precondition for European modernization projects)’, u kn. “Novyi Orhanon” (1620) ta universytetska filosofiia. Do 400-richchia vykhodu traktatu “Novyi Orhanon” Frensisa Bekona. Materialy mizhnarodnoi naukovoi konferentsii, 18-19 hrudnia 2020 r. Kharkiv : KhNU imeni V. N. Karazina, 26 – 32.
- Hatton, R 2024, Vidomstvo: Istoriia strakhu z davnikh chasiv doteper (Witchcraft: A history of fear from ancient times to the present), per. z anhl. Dysa, Kyiv : Stylet i stylos, 472s.
- Hellovei, Sk 2021, Vid kryzy do novykh mozhlyvostei (Post corona: From crisis to opportunity), per. z anhl. A. Akulenko, Kyiv : Vydavnycha hrupa KM-BUKS, 240 s.
- Daimond, Dzh. 2023, Zbroia, mikroby i stal: Vytoky nerivnostei mizh narodamy (Guns, germs, and steel: The origins of inequality among peoples), z anhl. T. Tsymbala, Kyiv : Vydavnycha hrupa KM-BUKS, 512 s.
- Kaufman, S 2023, Za mezhamy piramidy potreb. Novyi pohliad na samorealizatsiiu (Transcend: The new science of self-actualization), per. z anhl. Markhovska, 3-tie vyd., Kyiv : Laboratoriia, 400 s.
- Makliuen, M 2024, Halaktyka Hutenberha (The Gutenberg galaxy), per. z anhl. A. Halushka i V. Samoilenko, Kyiv : Laboratoriia, Nika-Tsentr, 384 s.
- Mortimer, I 2021, Yake stolittia bachylo naibilshe zmin i chomu tse vazhlyvo dlia nas (Which century saw the most change, and why it matters to us), per. z anhl. Mashyko, Kharkiv : Vyd-vo “Ranok” : Fabula, 448 s.
- Radionova, N 2008, Reprezentatsii filosofii v osvitnomu prostori Slobozhanshchyny u ХІХ stolitti (Representations of philosophy in the educational space of Slobozhanshchyna in the 19th century), Sumy : VAT SOD, Kozatskyi val, 320 s.
- Radionova, N 2025, ‘Fenomen zhakhlyvoho u zhyttietvorchosti M. Hoholia: filosofsko-antropolohichnyi analiz (The phenomenon of the horrific in the life-creation of M. Gogol: A philosophical-anthropological analysis)’, HUMANITIES STUDIES: zbirnyk naukovykh prats, red. V. H. Voronkova, Zaporizhzhia : Vydavnychyi dim “Helvetyka”, Vypusk 23 (100), s.101 – 107
- Rozchakluvannia neduhy, 2025, Lokalna tradytsiia, “stari” khvoroby ta “nova” medytsyna v Ukraini XVIII – XIX stolittia (Disenchanting disease: Local tradition, “old” illnesses, and “new” medicine in Ukraine (18th–19th centuries)). Kolektyvna monohrafiia za red V. Masliichuka ta I. Serdiuka, Kharkiv : Vydavets Oleksandr Savchuk, 352 s.
- Ferhiuson, N 2023, Yak Zakhid stav uspishnym (Civilization: How the West became successful), per. z anhl. V.Tsyba, 5-te vyd, Kyiv : Nash format, 448 s.
- Fisher, M 2025, Khymerne ta motoroshne (The weird and the eerie), per z anhl. Pashchenko, V.Podosinnikova, Lviv : Kontur, 208 s.
- Khonihsbom, M 2021, Stolittia pandemii. Istoriia hlobalnykh infektsii vid ispanskoho hrypu do COVID-19 (The pandemic century: A history of global infections from the Spanish flu to COVID-19), per. z anhl M. Luzinoi, Kyiv : Yakaboo Publishing, 432 s.
