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Pandemic in World Philosophy

Abstract

Relevance. One of the events that we will remember 2020 by is the plunge of the world into the abyss of pandemic. The ubiquitous threat of infection affects everyone, awakening existential fear of death. In these conditions, there is an appeal to philosophy as a resource of courage and a way of comprehending reality, in which the vital need to be a member of the community is combined with the requirement to keep social distance.
The purpose of this article is to offer philosophical categories with which one can interpret the impact of the coronavirus crisis on society. The objectives of the work include analyzing the speeches of leading philosophers on the topic of the coronavirus crisis and collecting empirical information on the consequences of the pandemic.
The objectives of the work include analyzing the speeches of leading philosophers on the topic of the coronavirus crisis and collecting empirical information about the consequences of the pandemic.
Methodology. Complex systems studies are used as a prism, through which the transformations of political life during the crisis can be analyzed.
Results. When a society is faced with a systemic crisis, there are two alternative ways: the first-by the vector of increasing complexity, as a result of which functions are duplicated to protect against failures; the second, a possible response vector - by the vector of simplification, when the connections between the subjects are destroyed, their number is reduced and societies are rolled back to earlier stages of development.
Conclusions. If the reaction of the system is in line with the increasing level of complexity, then the system has coped with crisis. If there are practices that indicate a rollback to the "new Middle Ages", this means that the dominant parameters of order have given place to rudimentary practices. Coronavirus crisis may thus be considered a test on the dissipativity of governance structures as well as their ability to restore external connections and to equip the internal space isomorphously with the environment.

About the Author

A. V. Golofast
Institute of Philosophy Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation

Anastasia V. Golofast, Researcher-Intern

12 Goncharnaya str., build. 1, Moscow 109240



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Golofast A.V. Pandemic in World Philosophy. Proceedings of the Southwest State University. Series: Economics. Sociology. Management. 2021;11(2):250-258. (In Russ.)

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ISSN 2223-1552 (Print)