This is an outdated version published on 2021-12-31. Read the most recent version.

The End of the Pandemic and the Sadism of Normalisation

Authors

  • Tadej Troha ZRC SAZU, Filozofski inštitut, Ljubljana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3986/fv.42.3.11

Keywords:

Covid 19, pandemic, endemic, virus, end, sadism, vaccination, freedom, Anthropocene

Abstract

The article discusses the structural dynamics of the Covid 19 pandemic and defines it as an essentially finite crisis. However, this definition does not simply come down to the abstract necessity that the pandemic must end at some point, but rather to the fact that the idea of an end has determined the entire course of the pandemic. From the outset, this idea took two antagonistic forms: From the first perspective, the pandemic can only be ended by eliminating the source of the intrusion; from the second perspective, ending the pandemic amounts to society finding a way to adapt to the intrusion. Apart from analyzing the often paradoxical implications of this essentially antagonistic idea for the “objective” evolution of the pandemic in its various phases, the article also demonstrates the inherently sadistic structure of the prevailing societal response. Precisely because this response was aimed at an impossible total normalization, it prepared the ground for the pandemic to possibly mutate into a genuine Anthropocene crisis, the endemic pandemic.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

»André Comte-Sponville: ‘Le vaccin est bon pour la santé, le passe mauvais pour la liberté’«, L’Express, 3. september 2021, https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/idees-etdebats/andre-comte-sponville-le-vaccin-est-bon-pour-la-sante-le-passe-sanitairemauvais-pour-la-liberte_2157696.html.

»André Comte-Sponville: ‘Le sort des jeunes au temps du Covid-19, j’en pleurerais’«, France Inter, 24. september 2021, https://www.franceinter.fr/vie-quotidienne/andrecomte-sponville-le-sort-des-jeunes-au-temps-du-covid-19-j-en-pleurerais.

Agamben, Giorgio, Where Are We Now? The Epidemic as Politics, London, Eris, 2021, EPUB.

Angus, Ian, Facing the Anthropocene, New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016.

Dupuy, Jean-Pierre, La catastrophe ou la vie. Pensées par temps de pandémie, Pariz, Seuil, 2021.

Holmes, Edward C., »Novel 2019 coronavirus genome«, https://virological.org/t/novel-2019-coronavirus-genome/319.

Marcus, Ruth, »Doctors should be allowed to give priority to vaccinated patients when resources are scarce«, Washington Post, 3. september 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/03/doctors-should-be-allowed-give-priority-vaccinatedpatients-when-resources-are-scarce/.

Oliu-Barton, Miquel et. al., »SARS-CoV-2 elimination, not mitigation, creates best outcomes for health, the economy, and civil liberties«, The Lancet, 397 (10291/2021), str. 2234–2236, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00978-8/fulltext.

Rockström, Johan et al., »A safe operating space for humanity«, Nature, 461 (2009), str. 472–475, https://www.nature.com/articles/461472a.

Titheradge, Noel, Kirkland, Faye, »Coronavirus: Did ‘herd immunity’ change the course of the outbreak?«, BBC, 20. julij 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53433824.

Troha, Tadej, »Označevalci pandemije: sorazmernost, eksponentnost, prekuženost«, Problemi, 58 (3-4/2020), str. 109–127.

Troha, Tadej, »Objektivnost v krizi«, Filozofski vestnik, 41 (3/2020), str. 209–224, DOI: 10.3986/FV.41.3.06.

Published

2021-12-31

Versions

How to Cite

Troha, T. (2021). The End of the Pandemic and the Sadism of Normalisation. Filozofski Vestnik, 42(3). https://doi.org/10.3986/fv.42.3.11