Conceptualization of Painism as a Social and Cultural Phenomenon of Ethical Nature and Its Linguistic Modelling

Abstract

This research is aimed at conceptualizing painism as a new socio-cultural phe­nomenon in the post-anthropocentric paradigm. The paper describes the problem field of painism and advocats for an interdisciplinary approach to its studies. Thus, painism becomes an object of research for axiological linguistics, ethics, philosophy, pain linguistics, emotiology, ecosophy and other scientific disci­plines. An interdisciplinary approach to research allows us to comprehensively and holistically consider the problem of painism in modern socio-cultural reali­ties and the discursive field around us. The research was conducted on the texts of the advertising discourse. It shows how the selected advertising texts reflect current trends in the field of animal rights protection and environmental res­ponsibility. The method of axiological analysis has shown that manufacturers of goods and services are guided by the values and anti-values of painism in or­der to ensure the proper positioning of their brand and express their solidarity with this ideology. Among the key painism landmarks, “pain” is noted as its key anti-value, while “ethics”, “eco-friendliness” and “responsibility” are its main values. The results of the research will contribute to understanding the me­chanisms that manufacturers use to broadcast their ethical standards. Additio­nally, the research shows what painism landmarks are more likely to be ver­balised in advertising texts. Two trends were found in the linguistic construction of painism: the explicit denial of anti-values and a shift in emphasis towards the values of painism.