The Blog

2021-

2021-09-17 e
PANDEMIC OF LIES V

Covid Heterodoxy in Three Layers

ABSTRACT:
Lockdowns and related policies of behavioral and economic restriction introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic are criticized, drawing on three sets of ideas and arguments that are organized in accordance with the likely degree of controversy associated with their guiding assumptions. The first set of arguments makes use of cost-benefit reasoning within a broadly utilitarian framework, emphasizing uncertainty, the role of worst-case scenarios, and the need to consider at least the medium term as well as immediate effects. The second draws on assumptions about the political value of basic liberties. The third draws on ideas about the roles of different stages within human life.

CONTENTS:
Introduction
First Layer: The Balance of Harms (p. 4)
Second Layer: Liberties (p. 14)
Third Layer: Aspiration, Meaning, and Fear (p. 21)

[...] Still, I agree that part of the message is how we might do better next time. Both in the case of Covid itself and those future challenges, we need to be more responsive to the costs of lockdowns, especially given their limited benefits over the past year, and we need to be more cognizant of the value of liberties in the realm of everyday behavior. We also need to react to crises with a stronger sense of our responsibility to young people, with a recognition of what makes life remain valuable for many older people, and an unwillingness to let fear call all the shots. (read more)

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