Emerging viral threats and the simultaneity of the non-simultaneous: zooming out in times of Corona
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SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTION
Emerging viral threats and the simultaneity of the non‑simultaneous: zooming out in times of Corona Hub Zwart1
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract This paper addresses global bioethical challenges entailed in emerging viral diseases, focussing on their socio-cultural dimension and seeing them as symptomatic of the current era of globalisation. Emerging viral threats exemplify the extent to which humans evolved into a global species, with a pervasive and irreversible impact on the planetary ecosystem. To effectively address these disruptive threats, an attitude of preparedness seems called for, not only on the viroscientific, but also on bioethical, regulatory and governance levels. This paper analyses the global bioethical challenges of emerging viral threats from a dialectical materialist (Marxist) perspective, focussing on three collisions: (1) the collision of expanding networks of globalisation with local husbandry practices; (2) the collision of global networks of mobility with disrupted ecosystems; and (3) the collision of viroscience as a globalised research field with existing regulatory frameworks. These collisions emerge in a force field defined by the simultaneity of the non-simultaneous. Evidence-based health policies invoke discontent as they reflect the normative logic of a globalised knowledge regime. The development of a global bioethics or macro-ethics requires us to envision these collisions not primarily as issues of benefits and risks, but first and foremost as normative tensions closely entangled with broader socio-economic and socio-cultural developments. Keywords Virology · Viroscience · Globalisation · Emerging viral threats · Simultaneity of the non-simultaneous · Dialectical materialism · Marxist bioethics · Global bioethics
Introduction In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the global political economy faces a dramatic moment of suspense (involving hundreds of millions of people) whose tumultuous impact materialises into a “new normality”. The world will never fully reset to “normal” neo-liberalism. In this paper, the COVID-19 pandemic will be regarded as symptomatic for the current era of globalisation and hyperconnectivity: a more or less inevitable consequence of the way in which the global socio-economic system has evolved during recent decades. The Corona-crisis seems to expose a series of (environmental, biological, economic, occupational, political and ideological) crises already evolving for * Hub Zwart [email protected] https://www.eur.nl/esphil/people/hub-zwart 1
Dean Erasmus School of Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Bayle Building/Room J5‑65/Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
quite some time, but now converging into a major disruptive transition. To bring this to the fore, this paper adopts a dialectical materialist (Marxist) bioethical framework, focussing on the socio-cultural (“super-structural”) dimension. Viral diseases are part of an ongoing transition that began during the industrial revoluti
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