IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/119477.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The COVID-19 pandemic: an economic disaster, a philosophical challenge. A philosophical essay

Author

Listed:
  • Fischer, Justina AV

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown policies in the years 2020 and 2021 have exerted economic, social, and psychic implications for most people. The reception by social scientists is almost exclusively a negative one; in this essay, a contrasting, more positive perspective is developed, based on the philosophy of Aristotelian Ethics. The idea is developed that this coronavirus pandemic interrupts and distorts the work-consumption-treadmill, enabling people to live out those talents and capabilities that make people human, lifting them beyond the stage of an animal with only basic needs. This societal development continues under the influence of the energy crisis and the rising inflation in the year 2022.

Suggested Citation

  • Fischer, Justina AV, 2024. "The COVID-19 pandemic: an economic disaster, a philosophical challenge. A philosophical essay," MPRA Paper 119477, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:119477
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/119477/1/MPRA_paper_119477.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    2. Easterlin, Richard A., 1974. "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 111773, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Easterlin, Richard A, 2001. "Income and Happiness: Towards an Unified Theory," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(473), pages 465-484, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marcel Fafchamps & Forhad Shilpi & The World Bank, 2004. "Isolation and Subjective Welfare," Economics Series Working Papers 216, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Senik, Claudia, 2009. "Direct evidence on income comparisons and their welfare effects," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 408-424, October.
    3. Hong, Yan-Zhen & Su, Yi-Ju & Chang, Hung-Hao, 2023. "Analyzing the relationship between income and life satisfaction of Forest farm households - a behavioral economics approach," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    4. Drakopoulos, Stavros A., 2008. "The Concept Of Comparison Income: An Historical Perspective," MPRA Paper 8713, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Schmähl, Winfried, 2002. "Old-age security in Bhutan: From lump-sum payments towards a pension scheme," Working papers of the ZeS 06/2002, University of Bremen, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS).
    6. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Georgellis, Yannis & Tsitsianis, Nicholas & Yin, Ya Ping, 2009. "Income and happiness across Europe: Do reference values matter?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 42-51, February.
    7. Stutzer, Alois, 2004. "The role of income aspirations in individual happiness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 89-109, May.
    8. Brand-Correa, Lina I. & Steinberger, Julia K., 2017. "A Framework for Decoupling Human Need Satisfaction From Energy Use," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 43-52.
    9. Isabel Neira & Fernando Bruna & Marta Portela & Adela García-Aracil, 2018. "Individual Well-Being, Geographical Heterogeneity and Social Capital," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1067-1090, April.
    10. Madhuri Mahato & Julie Vardhan, 2022. "The spatial distribution of self-employment — evidence from Jharkhand," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 12(1), pages 291-304, December.
    11. Georges Ngnouwal Eloundou & Blaise Ondoua Beyene & Marius Messoh Lonte, 2023. "In pursuit of Happiness in developing countries: does the diffusion of ICT matter?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(4), pages 1730-1740.
    12. Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi & Knight, John, 2007. "Community, comparisons and subjective well-being in a divided society," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 69-90, September.
    13. Joanne Haddad & Jad Chaaban & Ali Chalak & Hala Ghattas, 2022. "Does Income Class Affect Life Satisfaction? New Evidence from Cross-Country Microdata," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-23, June.
    14. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2009. "Should National Happiness be Maximized?," Chapters, in: Amitava Krishna Dutt & Benjamin Radcliff (ed.), Happiness, Economics and Politics, chapter 14, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Beja Jr, Edsel, 2013. "Does economic prosperity bring about a happier society? Mathematical remarks on the Easterlin Paradox debate," MPRA Paper 48229, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. O'Donnell, Gus & Oswald, Andrew J., 2015. "National well-being policy and a weighted approach to human feelings," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 59-70.
    17. Bruno S. Frey, 2011. "Subjective Well-Being, Politics and Political Economy," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 147(IV), pages 397-415, December.
    18. Fernando Borraz & Susan Pozo & Máximo Rossi, 2008. "And What About the Family Back Home? International Migration and Happiness," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 0308, Department of Economics - dECON.
    19. Opfinger, Matthias & Gundlach, Erich, 2011. "Religiosity as a determinant of happiness," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 48360, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    20. Matthew D Rablen, 2012. "The promotion of local wellbeing: A primer for policymakers," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 27(3), pages 297-314, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; happiness; treadmill; philosophy; ethics; capability; Aristotle; A. Smith;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B1 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925
    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:119477. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.