Juri Lotman’s Cultural Explosion and its Function in Friendship Studies and the Pragmasphere

In his 1992 work Culture and Explosion, Juri M. Lotman describes the notion of explosion as a “moment of unpredictability” (2009 [1992], 123). The concept of explosion entails the actualisation of one out of an array of possibilities with reference to a certain phenomenon. Although – on the surface level – the term may seem to suggest otherwise, the concept of explosion retains a quality of order. It implies the actualisation of one possibility out of a discrete set of possibilities, and does not correlate to a random or undefined actualisation (Lotman 2009 [1992], 123). Put another way, the term points to a chaotic realisation of a certain outcome that is ordered to the extent that the possible outcomes of the explosion must be finite. This article attempts to review Lotman’s primary texts, regarding the concept of cultural explosion and semiosphere. Further, the current work explores the ways in which the semiosphere and explosion concepts are relevant in friendship studies, and how they can be developed in the pragmasphere model.