A Universal Imagination of the End of the World? Volume I

Book excerpt: This collection of essays is the first published contribution from the ATLANTYS program, an interdisciplinary and intercultural research endeavour endorsed by the University of Nantes and the Centre François Viète, France, exploring epistemology, history of sciences and technology. This book sheds critical and analytical light on collective representations dealing with the end of the world. It considers various anthropological and historical issues, such as the interaction of human groups and populations with their natural environment and their reaction when faced with high-scale disasters; the expression and representation of the anxiety of our collective death or destruction; the reaction and behavior of human societies regarding the universal fear of their end; and the converging points between irrational beliefs, religious conceptions and scientific theories.