Everything Must Change

Philosophical Lessons from Lockdown

Vittorio Bufacchi (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

200 Seiten

2021
Manchester University Press (Verlag)
978-1-5261-5877-2 (ISBN)

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Taking its cue from Michel de Montaigne, this book asks what COVID-19 can teach us about the ‘art of living’. It examines eight themes from a philosophical perspective, including attitudes to old age, populism and life under lockdown, arguing that the crisis presents opportunities to create a more just society and change our lives for the better. -- .

The philosopher Michel de Montaigne said that facing our mortality is the only way to learn the ‘art of living’. This book asks what we can learn from COVID-19, both as individuals and collectively as a society.

Written during the first and second lockdowns, Everything must change offers philosophical perspectives on some of the most pressing issues raised by the pandemic. It argues that the pandemic is not a misfortune but an injustice; that it has exposed our society’s inadequate treatment of its most vulnerable members; that populist ideologies of post-truth are dangerous and potentially disastrous. In considering these issues and more, the book draws on a diverse range of philosophers, from Cicero, Hobbes and Arendt to prominent contemporary thinkers.

At the heart of the book is a simple argument: politics can be the difference between life and death. With careful reflection we can avoid knee-jerk decision making and ensure that the right lessons are learned, so that this crisis ultimately changes our lives for the better, ushering in a society that is both more compassionate and more just. -- .

Vittorio Bufacchi is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at University College Cork. His previous books include Violence and Social Justice (2007) and Social Injustice (2012). He has written for the Guardian, the Irish Times and the Irish Examiner. -- .

1 Coronavirus and philosophy
2 COVID-19: injustice or misfortune?
3 Old age in the time of coronavirus
4 Life under lockdown: nasty, brutish and short?
5 Is COVID-19 bad for populism?
6 COVID-19, fake news and post-truth
7 COVID-19, experts and trust
8 Normal People, normalised violence
9 Justice after COVID-19
Epilogue: a year of COVID-19
Index -- .

Erscheinungsdatum	11.06.2021
Zusatzinfo	2 black & white illustrations
Verlagsort	Manchester
Sprache	englisch
Maße	129 x 198 mm
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Mikrosoziologie
ISBN-10	1-5261-5877-9 / 1526158779
ISBN-13	978-1-5261-5877-2 / 9781526158772
Zustand	Neuware