Open AccessExperiencing the COVID-19 outbreak socially: On some recent philosophical contributions
Author(s) -
Sergio Alloggio
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
phronimon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2413-3086
pISSN - 1561-4018
DOI - 10.25159/2413-3086/8773
Subject(s) - reductionism , covid-19 , pandemic , epistemology , sociology , philosophical analysis , space (punctuation) , outbreak , set (abstract data type) , social science , philosophy , medicine , virology , linguistics , disease , pathology , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , programming language
The coronavirus outbreak is currently scrutinised by professional philosophers from different traditions and geographical areas. By focusing on several contributions from European academic philosophers, this article assesses whether such philosophical works manifest and reproduce, consciously or unconsciously, neocolonial and Eurocentric understandings of the Covid-19 pandemic. Particular attention will be given to Agamben’s and Žižek’s interpretations to show the role played in their analysis by reductionist and regressive constructions of the social world. I will then draw on several contributions from African and Africana philosophers (Gqola, Asante, More, West and Outlaw), to set up a theoretical space in which the social experiencing of the coronavirus outbreak, as well as the self-understanding of academic philosophers, could be positively reconceptualised. This act of resignification has its aim in promoting adequate forms of institutional analysis and professional engagement, and it points to the emancipatory task philosophy embodies in the global South