Why the Pandemic Matters for Philosophy. Why Philosophy Matters for the Pandemic.

Abstract

Our common sense reaction to “pandemic and philosophy” is that we are in a medical emergency when we have to act decisively and not lose time in philo-sophical ruminations. But what if the tremendous impact of the pandemic on our economy, relations of domination, neocolonial divisions, and our mental health requires precisely a philosophical approach? To understand how the pandemic perturbed our ordinary daily lives, we need to reflect on what it means to be hu-man today, on the customs and rituals that make us “normal” human beings, on the need to invent new normality. The text deals with these basic questions through a critical overview of the existing literature on the current pandemic.