Community in the Age of the Pandemic: Moral Responsibility in the Light of Covid-Uncertaintity

Abstract

А situation of Covid uncertainty resulting in the destruction of the conventional forms of interaction led to a reformatted social context and challenged a possibility of a morally responsible attitude towards the Other in the conditions of separateness, distancing and isolation. Understanding morality as an ambivalent phenomenon that acts both as a social institution and as a self-legislation of a moral agent, allows for singling out two aspects of a moral responsibility: a measure of what is due towards other people, which is established by a moral agent himself, and duties imposed upon the moral agent from the outside. In this case, a normative adequacy of the moral agent is manifested in his power of social prediction and his ability to bear responsibility for the future state of the community, which becomes of a paramount importance in light of the pandemic. In the current situation, a moral responsibility is a mutual responsibility of an individual and the state where these both parties act as moral agents: the state is responsible for the comprehensive exercise of human rights and freedoms, provision of decent living conditions and security, and protection of health as well as for the quality of its own decisions, their implementation and social impact; whilst an individual is responsible for his own decisions and actions, which in the state of emergency are dedicated to the cause of collective well-being and aimed at minimization of the harm and prevention of the sufferings of others. A specific tension preconditioned by a dilemma of a personal freedom and collective goals to preserve health and survive, may be eased with the help of a dialogue, trust and reflexivity that would help get over the increasing distancing and separateness.