Life in the plague times
In early 2020, Agamben asked a number of important moral and political questions concerning the global response to coronavirus. The response was heated; sufficiently so to prompt the editors of Inscriptions to ask whether that response had not, “put our ability to reason calmly and clearly in peril....
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Tankebanen forlag
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Inscriptions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tankebanen.no/inscriptions/index.php/inscriptions/article/view/99 |
| _version_ | 1818415743897698304 |
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| author | Simon Smith |
| author_facet | Simon Smith |
| author_sort | Simon Smith |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In early 2020, Agamben asked a number of important moral and political questions concerning the global response to coronavirus. The response was heated; sufficiently so to prompt the editors of Inscriptions to ask whether that response had not, “put our ability to reason calmly and clearly in peril. ” Motivated by sympathy for all sides of the debate, the aim of our present, brief, rumination is to consider these concerns in light of the ways circumstances have actually unfolded since they were raised. While Agamben’s fears may not correspond very precisely with the reality of the situation, those fears are, nonetheless, entirely legitimate. Crucially, Agamben reminds us, there is much in our collective response to coronavirus to be ashamed of; not least, the ways in which isolation and separation have been used to reinforce a disastrous individualism. In sickness or in health, we abandon one another at our peril. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T11:39:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-679429dfe04840b59a5667a3ba9bd81f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2535-7948 2535-5430 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T11:39:51Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Tankebanen forlag |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Inscriptions |
| spelling | doaj.art-679429dfe04840b59a5667a3ba9bd81f2022-12-21T23:02:53ZengTankebanen forlagInscriptions2535-79482535-54302021-01-014192Life in the plague timesSimon Smith0British Personalist ForumIn early 2020, Agamben asked a number of important moral and political questions concerning the global response to coronavirus. The response was heated; sufficiently so to prompt the editors of Inscriptions to ask whether that response had not, “put our ability to reason calmly and clearly in peril. ” Motivated by sympathy for all sides of the debate, the aim of our present, brief, rumination is to consider these concerns in light of the ways circumstances have actually unfolded since they were raised. While Agamben’s fears may not correspond very precisely with the reality of the situation, those fears are, nonetheless, entirely legitimate. Crucially, Agamben reminds us, there is much in our collective response to coronavirus to be ashamed of; not least, the ways in which isolation and separation have been used to reinforce a disastrous individualism. In sickness or in health, we abandon one another at our peril.https://www.tankebanen.no/inscriptions/index.php/inscriptions/article/view/99pandemicagambenethicspolitical theoryreligion |
| spellingShingle | Simon Smith Life in the plague times Inscriptions pandemic agamben ethics political theory religion |
| title | Life in the plague times |
| title_full | Life in the plague times |
| title_fullStr | Life in the plague times |
| title_full_unstemmed | Life in the plague times |
| title_short | Life in the plague times |
| title_sort | life in the plague times |
| topic | pandemic agamben ethics political theory religion |
| url | https://www.tankebanen.no/inscriptions/index.php/inscriptions/article/view/99 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT simonsmith lifeintheplaguetimes |