Revaluations of the times of pandemics : on the interference of the pandemic in the world of human values

Abstract

Experiencing the destructive effects of a pandemic as a realistic view of currently unfolding events, one reads Roman Ingarden's conundrums from his analyses of human nature: "As the spiritual power of man weakens or disappears, the layer of Human Reality in the world seems to obliterate and fade away." In contrast to the concepts of values, which postulate their "eternal permanence," Ingarden realistically draws attention to the fragility of the world of values and the dependence of existence on man's active concern to learn and realize them. Experiencing the destructive effects of a pandemic, one also experiences a re-evaluation in the world of human values taking place at an accelerated pace: what is valued and what is preferred in actions as something particularly valuable, something more important than something else. It is a characteristic of pandemic times that what seemed certain, stable and even unchangeable - also in economic and political activity with its long-range goals - becomes at once highly questionable or no longer valid; and that which was considered valuable from the axiological point of view turns out to be very fragile and susceptible to annihilation. In this way, we experience, for many, the pandemic's intrusion into the world of human values, which is unexpected and beyond the horizon of imagination. It is an intervention which also generates and intensifies conflicts of values, between which one has to make an unrepeatable choice: either one chooses this good or that good, at the cost of losing other goods; either one gives up this good or that good, or one has to give up on some particular good, because one cannot preserve them simultaneously (one does not have the necessary forces or means), and the decisions which have been made are not reversible in time. In the situation of struggling with the advancing pandemic, when in various areas of human activity one experiences increased and disturbing cognitive disorientation, when one feels painfully aware of the lack of reliable knowledge about what is really happening (what are the causes, how to accurately recognize the actual threats, how to effectively counteract what threatens health and life in various ways) and how it can probably further develop, the more necessary in the reliable practice of science is - highly valued by Ingarden - "attacking matters that have so far been settled with hackneyed platitudes, realizing that one actually understands nothing", because in practice one bears horrendous costs of only seemingly settling matters (of great importance) with "hackneyed platitudes" and of seemingly understanding phenomena. Effective recognition of the sources and multiple effects of a pandemic (and ways to counteract it) requires interdisciplinary discussions, transcending the artificial barriers of institutionalized science and involving representatives of various scientific fields in the debate, including philosophy, logic, and ethics.