Philosophy For Our Times – Halloween SPECIAL

Episode: The Philosophy of the Apocalypse
Date: October 31, 2025
Host: IAI (Ed)

Episode Overview

This Halloween special delves into our fascination with monsters, apocalypse, and dystopian futures. Through readings of four philosophical articles by academics and the IAI editorial team, the episode explores the cultural, historical, and psychological dimensions of apocalypse—touching on subjects from historical monster lore and pandemic anxieties to the political philosophy latent in zombie fiction and our enduring appetite for disaster narratives.

Key Segments & Insights

1. Battling the Corona Monster: Monsters as Psychological Constructs

(Author: Dr. Natalie Lawrence | Reader: Ali | Starts at 01:30)

• Monsters as Mirrors of Fear
  Monsters have historically been used to embody and distance human anxieties. Medieval cartography even marked unknown lands with “hic sunt dracones” (“here be dragons”).

  • Quote:

    "Monsters are things that embody our anxieties and fears, transgress our boundaries, and mix up categories. They reveal what those fears and anxieties are."
    — Natalie Lawrence [04:15]

• Pandemic as Monster:
  Covid-19 became a monster—unknowable, omnipresent, impossible to fight directly:

  • Early Western reactions displaced blame onto ‘alien’ places and people.

  • Racism and scapegoating emerged as strategies to “other” the threat.

  • The virus transgressed both geographic and social boundaries, exposing ugly undercurrents in society.

    • Quote:

      "The pandemic brought out plenty of deplorable latent or not so latent racism in the West. The blame for the virus was placed in the east to countries we view as alien to us."
      — Natalie Lawrence [08:12]

• Denial and Panic:
  Both denial (“no worse than the flu”) and apocalyptic panic served as psychological defenses. Neither helped effective action but reflected tendencies to project inner anxieties outward.

• Monsters as Familiar Archetypes:
  Covid-19 echoed fiction—like 28 Days Later and I Am Legend—where uncontrolled plagues are the modern monster.

  • Quote:

    "Uncontrollable disease is just one of the coterie of modern monsters, along with a murderous psychopath, nuclear powered Godzilla and homicidal AI."
    — Natalie Lawrence [11:43]

2. Hobbes Alive in The Last of Us: Politics After the End of the World

(Author: Prof. Matthew Festenstein | Reader: Harry | Starts at 12:32)

• Dystopia & Political Philosophy:
  The popular series The Last of Us echoes Thomas Hobbes's 17th-century notion of the “state of nature”: life without stable government is fraught, violent, and marked by distrust.

  • Quote:

    "In such condition there is no place for industry... no society, and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."
    — Quoting Hobbes [14:43]

• Order, Authority, and Rebellion:

  • The series presents different reactions to collapse:
    • Militant authority (Fedra)
    • Rebellious factions (Fireflies)
    • Isolated communities (communes, cults)
  • Hobbes warns against rebellion—even against unjust authority—for fear of descending into the chaotic “state of nature.”

• Skepticism About Political Salvation:
  The show is skeptical: even apparent solutions (like Ellie's immunity) are dubious, with revolutionary hopes repeatedly dashed.

  • Quote:

    "People who believe that they personally possess or know the secret for salvation are dangerously self righteous from this perspective."
    — Matthew Festenstein [21:35]

• Temporary Utopias & Limits:
  The isolated, “successful” utopian commune is depicted as fragile—utopian pockets within a otherwise brutal world.

• Underlying Message:
  Apocalypse fiction dramatizes both our fear of disorder and our distrust of collective action. Yet, the philosophical warning is that without some trust and unity, confronting real anxieties—climate, collapse—may be impossible.

3. The Attraction of Apocalypse: Why Do We Love Disaster?

(IAI Editorial Team | Reader: Ed | Starts at 24:43)

• Disaster as Entertainment:
  Despite the real horrors of pandemics, disasters enthrall us in fiction—films like 28 Days Later simultaneously terrify and entertain.

• Evolutionary Roots:
  Our attention fixates on bad news and threats—it’s a survival trait to focus on danger, which translates into seeking out disaster stories.

• Moral Curiosity & Catharsis:
  Disaster stories probe how people face moral dilemmas: whom to save, which taboos to break. They offer catharsis—a safe space to process suppressed fears.

  • Quote:

    "Our fascination here is motivated in large part by a morbid curiosity. How will and should people behave in such situations? What would I have done in the same scenario?"
    — IAI Editorial Team [28:53]

• Not Just a Thrill:
  While some delight in pure adrenaline, the disaster genre is popular because it encourages viewers to reflect on values, character, and resilience under stress.

• Disaster as Mirror:
  These stories remind us that chaos and crisis are never far away—and help us mentally rehearse how we might respond.

4. Daydreaming of Apocalypse: The Utopian and Reactionary Pull of Dystopia

(Author: Prof. Florian Mussgnug | Reader: Avi | Starts at 33:31)

• Dystopia in Pandemic Times:
  Contrary to predictions, interest in apocalypse and dystopian fiction didn't disappear during Covid-19—if anything, it surged.

• Who Enjoys Apocalypse:
  Historically, such fantasies were the preserve of the (relatively) safe and privileged. For them, “it was easier to fantasize about the end of the world than the end of capitalism.”

  • Quote:

    "Cultural theorist Ivan Calder Williams has described this public and commercial interest in apocalypse as a schizophrenic obsession with civilizational collapse and mass death in a world that believes itself to be never ending."
    — Florian Mussgnug [36:40]

• Universal Relevance:
  As environmental, political, and social breakdowns become global realities, apocalypse becomes a "shared catastrophe" for all humanity.

• Escapism vs. Transformation:
  Drawing on theorist Fredric Jameson:

  • Apocalypse fiction can be wish-fulfillment escapism—egocentric, dualistic, repetitive.

  • But it can also be utopian—reflecting on society’s limits and imagining new, more just futures.

  • Quote:

    “The genre may be used and has been used, to outline concrete strategies of progressive political and social transformation.”
    — Florian Mussgnug [41:33]

• Radical Hope and Resistance:
  Apocalyptic and eschatological stories have historically been acts of “discursive resistance against empire”—offering hope and the possibility for transformation, not just fatalism.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the inner origins of monsters:

  “Monsters are not things that exist externally... they are integral to the way that we see the world.”
  — Natalie Lawrence [03:20]

• On the Hobbesian state of nature:

  “The trustworthiness of strangers is rare and fragile.”
  — Matthew Festenstein [15:40]

• On the cathartic role of apocalypse fiction:

  “The disaster genre can satisfy our morbid curiosity while providing a safe space to internalize and come to terms with such events.”
  — IAI Editorial Team [31:09]

• On post-apocalyptic storytelling and transformation:

  “Beyond the familiar dichotomy of apocalyptic escapism and fatalistic acceptance, we can still find numerous different ways of conceiving the ends of the world: narratives that can serve and have always served as an inspiration for critical, creative and political practice.”
  — Florian Mussgnug [43:12]

Important Timestamps

• 00:32 – Host introduction and Halloween setup
• 01:30 – “Battling the Corona Monster” article (Lawrence/Ali)
• 12:32 – “Hobbes Alive in The Last of Us” (Festenstein/Harry)
• 24:43 – “The Attraction of Apocalypse” (IAI Editorial/Ed)
• 33:31 – “Daydreaming of Apocalypse” (Mussgnug/Avi)
• 44:26 – Closing remarks

Episode Takeaways

• Monsters and apocalypse are persistent features of the human imagination, evolving with our fears and circumstances.
• Apocalyptic and dystopian fiction is both a reflection of and an escape from our anxieties about disorder, collapse, and the limits of society.
• Such stories test our character, ethical boundaries, and political assumptions—at times serving as vehicles for catharsis, at others for critical or radical hope.
• In uncertain times, our appetite for imagining the end endures—not just to scare ourselves, but to rehearse, understand, and perhaps reinvent our response to crisis.

For more deep dives into philosophy and culture, subscribe to Philosophy For Our Times. And as always: lock your doors, and don't play with the Ouija board.