Ethics and Pandemics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on COVID-19 and Future Pandemics

✍ Scribed by Andrew Sola

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 242
• Series: Springer Series in Public Health and Health Policy Ethics
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book is for readers who wish to understand the ethical implications of the COVID-19 pandemic ― holistically ― on communities, politics, the economy, the environment, international relations, public health, and, most importantly, on their own lives and their own futures. It also helps readers to think through the wide-ranging ethical implications of the new age of global pandemics.

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed all of our lives to such an extent that no single publication will ever be able to capture its complexity. The book acknowledges this complexity by embracing interdisciplinary dialogue. It is open to diverse points of view, different ethical systems, and a wide variety of academic disciplines. It suggests three broad avenues to exploring the subject:

• Ethics for Pandemics: What ethical theories are useful for pandemic living?
• Ethics in Pandemics: How are long-standing ethical dilemmas revealed in pandemics?
• Ethics of Pandemics: How should politicians and public health professionals create ethical systems of pandemic management?

Interdisciplinary perspectives are another key feature of the book and reflect the important insights that many academic disciplines ― medical ethics and public health, history, political science, economics, behavioral and evolutionary psychology, and climate science ― bring to bear on the subject.

In the chapters, the author joins theory and practice, providing an overview of the major ethical theories:

• Kant and Deontology
• Utilitarianism and Consequentialist Ethics
• Social Contract Theory
• Egoism and Altruism
• Virtue Ethics

It then uses these theories to analyze both COVID-19 and also historical pandemics, including typhus, smallpox, the Black Death, HIV/AIDS, and polio.

Ethics and Pandemics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on COVID-19 and Future Pandemics prepares readers to better understand ethical living during times of crisis. While written for students pursuing any discipline, it is particularly suited for those seeking degrees in public health, health care, political science, and philosophy. Furthermore, non-specialized readers and members of the general public will find the book of interest.

✦ Table of Contents

Series Editorial Advisory Board
Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
About the Author
Abbreviations
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Ethics and Pandemics
1.1 A Note on the Main Title
1.2 The Importance of Interdisciplinary Perspectives
1.3 Structure and Method of the Book
1.4 Using the Anchor of Ethics to Understand Past, Present, and Future Pandemics
1.5 A Note on the Politicization of COVID-19
1.6 Guidelines for Students
1.7 Additional Suggestions for Doing Philosophy
1.8 Why?
References
Chapter 2: Evaluating Assumptions About Human Nature Pre- and Post-COVID-19
2.1 Three Questions About Human Nature
2.2 Egoism Versus Altruism
2.3 Reason Versus Biology
2.4 Alienation Versus Reconciliation
2.5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: Kant and Deontology: Understanding Human Dignity
3.1 How Much Is a Human Life Worth?
3.2 The Origins of Morality
3.3 The Categorical Imperative
3.4 An Edge-Case: The Duty Not to Lie in Kant’s System
3.5 Human Dignity
3.6 Conclusion
References
Chapter 4: Utilitarianism and Consequentialist Ethics: Framing the Greater Good
4.1 Consequentialism
4.2 Jeremy Bentham and the Hedonic Calculus
4.3 John Stuart Mill and a Revised Definition of Pleasure
4.4 Peter Singer: The Modern Utilitarian Champion
4.5 The Telos of Morality
4.6 Objections to Utilitarianism
4.7 Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: The Social Contract: Exploring the Concept of Freedom During Pandemics
5.1 An Introduction to the Social Contract
5.2 Thomas Hobbes and Leviathan
5.2.1 Egoism and Equality in the State of Nature
5.2.2 Justice and Morality
5.2.3 Reason and Self-Interest
5.3 John Locke and Two Treatises of Government
5.3.1 Reason, Morality, and Justice in the State of Nature
5.3.2 Critique of Absolute Power
5.3.3 Property
5.3.4 Other Ends of Power
5.3.5 Consent and Rebellion
5.3.6 Disobedience and the Dissolution of Government
5.4 Rousseau’s Social Contract
5.4.1 The State of Nature
5.4.2 The Founding of the Social Contract
5.4.3 Justice and Morality; Freedom and Obedience
5.4.4 Equality Before the Law
5.4.5 The Particular Will and the General Will
5.4.6 Consent and Submission to the Law
5.4.7 Rousseau and Freedom
5.5 The Social Contract as a Guide to Ethical Behavior: Public Versus Private Ethics
5.6 Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: Egoism and Altruism: Is Selfishness a Virtue?
6.1 An Introduction to Egoism
6.2 The Greek Tradition
6.2.1 Plato
6.2.2 Aristotle
6.2.3 Diogenes
6.2.4 Epicurus
6.2.5 Aristippus
6.3 The Christian Tradition
6.4 Ayn Rand and Objectivism
6.5 Ethical Egoism and the Virtue of Selfishness
6.6 Criticisms and Defenses of Ethical Egoism
6.7 Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: Virtue Ethics: An Alternative to Theories of Right Action
7.1 Virtue Ethics and the Problem of Motives
7.2 Motivation—> Action—> Consequence
7.3 The Return of Aristotelian Virtues
7.3.1 The Virtues and Habit
7.3.2 The Concept of the Golden Mean
7.3.3 Eudaimonia and Telos: Happiness and the Ultimate Purpose of Human Life
7.3.4 The Virtues and Happiness
7.4 Virtue Ethics and Its Advantages
7.5 The Central Objection to Virtue Ethics
7.6 Solving Ethical Problems with Virtue Ethics
7.6.1 Stealing the Specifications of a COVID-19 Vaccine
7.6.2 Edward Jenner and the Smallpox Vaccine
7.7 Being a Virtuous Person During a Pandemic
7.7.1 Resilience
7.7.2 Stoic Resignation
7.7.3 Discipline
7.7.4 Fortitude
7.7.5 Generosity of Spirit
7.8 Conclusion
References
Chapter 8: Toward a Pragmatic Ethics in an Age of Pandemics, Environmental Crisis, and Social Disorder
8.1 Where Did We Come from and Where Are We Going?
8.2 The Emotional Process: Pragmatism, Doubt, and Belief
8.3 The Imaginative Process: Pragmatic Imagination and Hope
8.4 The Intellectual Process: Constructing a Pragmatic Ethics that Makes a Difference
8.5 Creating an Ethical Public Health System for the Next Global Pandemic
8.6 The Lived Process: Joining Emotions, the Imagination, and the Mind
References
Index