CONTOURS OF METAMODERN ESCHATOLOGY: A CORPUS-BASED APPROACH

This article presents an interdisciplinary socio-philosophical study that seeks to integrate corpus linguistics with philosophical analysis of metamodernism and its eschatological potential. The authors argue that today’s global political, ecological, and technological challenges call for a renewed mode of thinking about the future – one that transcends both postmodern skepticism and the linear teleology of modernism. As a cultural and methodological framework, metamodernism is capable of holding the tension between a belief in progress and a critical reassessment of past utopias. Therefore, the authors contend, metamodernism offers fertile ground for the emergence of new eschatological imaginaries. The central claim is that philosophy, which relies on quantitative analysis of philosophical texts (e.g., concordances, collocations, frequency data) – not only allows for empirical validation of philosophical intuitions but also helps overcome subjectivism in interpreting complex concepts, particularly those related to eschatology. Through corpus analysis, the authors reconstruct eschatological sensibilities in the works of Marx, Engels, leading metamodernists (such as Freinacht and van den Akker), and eco-socialist theorists, highlighting not only critiques of capitalism but also emerging efforts to articulate positive visions of the future. Eco-socialism, in this context, is interpreted as one of the few paradigms capable of uniting ecological ethics, social justice, and materially grounded utopia. Though, drawing on international sociological surveys, the study demonstrates that contemporary imaginaries of the future are polyphonic, conflictual, and saturated with existential anxiety – underscoring the need for new forms of eschatological reasoning. Ultimately, the article offers a corpus-supported reconstruction of metamodern eschatology – one that incorporates dialectical thinking about the end, political commitment, openness to a multiplicity of futures, and attentiveness to the voices of the marginalized. This form of eschatology is not abstract; rather, it emerges as a tool of critique and political engagement in an age of ecological, political, and economic polycrisis.