The COVID-19 pandemic: an economic disaster, a philosophical challenge. A philosophical essay

Justina A. V. Fischer

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown policies in the years 2020 and 2021 have exerted economic, social, and psychic implications for most people. The reception by social scientists is almost exclusively a negative one; in this essay, a contrasting, more positive perspective is developed, based on the philosophy of Aristotelian Ethics. The idea is developed that this coronavirus pandemic interrupts and distorts the work-consumption-treadmill, enabling people to live out those talents and capabilities that make people human, lifting them beyond the stage of an animal with only basic needs. This societal development continues under the influence of the energy crisis and the rising inflation in the year 2022.

Keywords: COVID-19; happiness; treadmill; philosophy; ethics; capability; Aristotle; A. Smith (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B1 H1 H12 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap
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Published in Inequality and Unemployment in the time of Covid-19. (2024): pp. 19-30

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