ECEGADMAT. Varieties of Feeling Bad about Climate and Other Things
Principal investigator: doc. Ondřej Beran
Period: 1. 1. 2022 – 31. 12. 2024
Grant No. 22-15446S Czech Science Foundation Standard Grant
Abstract
The project focuses on our varied negative reactions to the degradation in nature. First, it acknowledges their heterogeneity, reflected by the terminology: environmental/climate /ecological grief/anxiety/despair/melancholia/anger/trauma (acronymised as ECEGADMAT). Second, though much research of ECEGADMAT has been conducted in terms of mental health, the project proposes to describe it as an emotion, a cognitive state/attitude, responsive to culture and cultivation. Analysing forms of ECEGADMAT as emotions involves mapping their relations to the different stimuli they react to and to the opposite emotions. Third, we opt for an existential, rather than a psycho-pathological, account of ECEGADMAT (as a form of relevant understanding of one’s life and the world). That opens room for considering i) the appropriateness of ECEGADMAT, and ii) its status as a moral emotion. Fourth, we will research ways in which cultural stimuli (incl. art forms such as literature, films, documentary) contribute both to experiencing ECEGADMAT and to overcoming it and engaging, e.g., in a public action.
Team members
Principal investigator: Doc. Ondřej Beran