The Covid-19 Pandemic and Climate Change: Some Lessons Learned on Individual Ethics and Social Justice

The Covid-19 pandemic has confronted humanity with a complex and unexpected challenge. One part of this challenge concerned individual ethics, i.e., the behaviour of individuals with respect to the rules and restrictions that have been imposed by health authorities in the collective interest. Another part concerned, instead, the social organisation of immunisation campaigns. In this article I wonder whether the lessons we have learned in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic can be applied to climate change mitigation. My first argument is that at least some of the ethical successes obtained at the individual level can be repeated with respect to climate change, but only if we stop focusing solely on the risks of climate change and offer a convincing picture of the benefits and opportunities of a more sustainable world. The second argument is that the Covid-19 pandemic offered us a new perspective on the relationship between global systemic threats and social justice: no one can adapt in isolation, neither medically nor economically. An out-of-control climate will lead to the same situation, so the asymmetry of vulnerability between developed and developing countries (and also between wealthy and poor people within the same country) is only a short-term illusion.

ETIKA INDIVIDU DAN SOSIAL DALAM PEMIKIRAN THABATHABA’I

Abstacst: Ethics is one branch of philosophy that discusses morality. It is human action seen from the good or bad and right or wrong’s perspective. The discussion of ethics has existed since the birth of philosophy. Therefore, almost all philosophers in every era and tradition have ethical thinking. This article explain the Islamic ethics in the contemporary era from one of the famous Islamic philosopher, that is Thabathaba’i. The basis of his ethics is the meaning of human and nature, also the way of thinking in shaping the concept of moral value. His individual ethics rests on concept of wujub and the social ethics rests on concept of istikhdam. Key Word: Etic, Thabathaba’i, Wujub, Istikhdam.Abstrak: Etika merupakan cabang filsafat yang mengkaji tentang moralitas, yaitu perbuatan manusia dari sudut pandang baik-buruk dan benar-salah. Pembahasan mengenai etika sendiri telah ada sejak filsafat itu lahir. Oleh sebab itu, hampir semua filsuf dari setiap zaman dan tradisi memiliki pemikiran tentang etika. Hal yang difokuskan dalam artikel ini adalah etika Islam di era kontemporer dari salah satu filsuf Iran yang termasyhur, yaitu Thabathaba’i. Bangunan etikanya berangkat dari pemaknaannya terhadap alam dan manusia juga bagaimana pikiran manusia mengkonsepkan nilai baik dan buruk dalam perbuatan. Etika individualnya bertumpu pada konsep wujub, sedangkan etika sosialnya bertumpu pada konsep istikhdam. Kata kunci : Etika, Thabathaba’i, Wujub, Istikhdam.

Lessons from Theranos: Changing Narratives of Individual Ethics in Science and Engineering

The meteoric ascent and equally dramatic fall of Theranos has been covered prolifically in the media. Presented as an ambitious inventor gone rogue, the discursive construction of the Theranos scandal in popular media and in the biomedical community reifies tired narratives of the role of ethics in science and engineering fields more generally: narratives that emphasizes individual integrity and common sense rather than the structures and norms that leave scientists and engineers vulnerable to ethical quandaries. In this short critical engagement, I argue that the ways Theranos has been captured obscures important conversations about ethics in bioscience and biotechnology, both in the private sector and in university spaces. I call for STS scholars to engage with scientists and engineers to imagine ways to structurally embed ethics and justice in future technoscientific endeavors.

Universalism vs. “All Under Heaven” (Tianxia / 天下) – Kant in China

The discourse on freedom that Kant unfolds in his writings on the history of philosophy, especially in his essay Idea for a Universal History with Cosmopolitan Intent (1784), is a constitutive component of the moral perspective whose key concept is the notion of freedom. This is why critical philosophy, as Kant says, has its own “chiliastic expectation”, and the critical philosopher is a prophet who himself “occasions und produces the events he predicts”. Questions concerning the proper use of freedom – how does freedom position itself in the individual ethics of each person when he/she wants to act morally, how does it position the community in legal ethics when it merges in a liberal state through the peacemaking function of the law, or how does the community of states position itself in international law when, with cosmopolitan intent, freedom devotes itself to a utopian peace mission – these are always questions concerning the concept of freedom which has emerged from a critical process of arbitration.