PHILOSOPHY IN THE TIME OF CORONA

How Philosophers Have Been Helping Australasians Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

The humanities have a vital role to play in any time of crisis and transition, and COVID-19 is certainly no exception. Throughout this extraordinary time, Australasian philosophers have been doing our part to make sense of where we are and how we should respond. 

Here’s just some of what professional philosophers in Australia and New Zealand have been up to:

• Ethicists Prof. Wendy Rogers (Macquarie University) and Prof. Stacy Carter (University of Wollongong) produced guidelines for choosing which patients should get ventilators when there aren’t enough for all

• A/Prof Angela Ballantyne (University of Otago) reminded us of the neglected importance of equity in triage decisions

• A/Prof Stephanie Collins (Australian Catholic University) grappled with our individual and collective responsibility for saving the lives of others

• A/Prof Matthew Sharpe (Deakin University) put the COVID-19 pandemic into context through philosopher Albert Camus’ novel The Plague

• A/Prof Colin Klein (ANU) explored the causes of COVID-19 conspiracy theories and what makes a conspiracy theory gain traction 

• Dr Luke Zaphir (University of Queensland) showed us how to avoid falling into the ‘Seven Deadly Sins of Thought” about the Coronavirus 

• Bioethicist Prof. Jackie Leach Scully (UNSW) called our attention to the dangerous prejudices against disabled people in responses to COVID-19

• A/Prof Patrick Stokes (Deakin University) discussed the impatience of grief and the fears that underlie demands to re-open the economy

• The Australian Association of Bioethics and Health Law maintains a list of resources on the ethics of allocating scarce healthcare resources during the pandemic 

• Prof Tim Mulgan (University of Auckland) has a radio interview and also an op-ed on intergenerational ethics here:

  newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/2020/05/01/1151328/we-cant-ask-young-people-to-pay-the-price-alone

  newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/kerre-mcivor-mornings/audio/tim-mulgan-intergenerational-ethics-and-the-covid-19-bailout

• Dr Vanessa Schouten (Massey University) has an op-ed on NZ govt's wage subsidy here:

  thespinoff.co.nz/business/18-05-2020/the-wage-subsidy-is-for-those-in-need-dont-abuse-it/

• Associate Professor Krushil Watene (Massey University) has a conversation piece here: 

• theconversation.com/caring-for-community-to-beat-coronavirus-echoes-indigenous-ideas-of-a-good-life-136175

• Tim Smartt Institute for Ethics & Society at The University of Notre Dame Australia.

• Richard de Rozario & Tim van Gelder From the Hunt Laboratory for Intelligence Research School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne led a Hunt Lab team supporting the Group of Eight in the development of the Roadmap to Recovery report for Government. For more information see 

• Dr Marco Grix (Massey University) has the following two news articles:

• massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=DC2B9DC9-4820-42ED-8017-42AD2C9BD4EF
  

• stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120345912/coronavirus-it-is-immoral-to-stockpile-food
  

• 

• Gillian Brock (University of Auckland), Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism and Closed Borders in the Covid-19 Era

• cambridgeblog.org/2020/06/cosmopolitanism-nationalism-and-closed-borders-in-the-covid-19-era

           “Government must consider mandatory COVID-19 vaccination” published in both The Age & Sydney Morning Herald. 

            Mapping our COVID-19 recovery | Pursuit by The University of Melbourne

            huntlab.science.unimelb.edu.au/home/research/roadmap/

Our profession has a long and proud tradition of contributing to public life in Australia and New Zealand. If you’d like to learn more about how philosophers can add value to the media, contact the AAP’s media officer Sam Baron

media@aap.org.au