Граждане и общество в условиях пандемии COVID-19: общественные интересы versus личная свобода

Abstract

The article analyzes relationship between the individual and society in the new reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the risk of collective infection is high. Under new conditions, the ethical component of state responsibility for the decisions made turned out to be quite high, and its implementation is possible only if social solidarity is achieved, including solidarity expressed in individual consent, in ensuring protection of the vulnerable as well as the well-being of everyone. In the first part of the article, the key question is how to fit solidarity into modern social circumstances, given that people live in different conditions, have different status, income, occupation. The author examines the conditions under which it is possible to ensure that citizens began to act as a united social force. The pandemic has triggered a new round of discussions about the human values system. The second part examines the complexities of the moral choice that individuals make under the influence of objective conditions set by external parameters and the ability to choose the subject itself. In a narrow sense, this is a preference for a certain version of an action in specific circumstances, in a broad sense, it is the correlation of various value systems, resulting in decision being made in favor of one of them. The spread of COVID-19 around the world has revealed interesting patterns, for example, well-organized and cohesive societies have performed much better in difficult conditions than atomized ones. In the third part of the article, using the example of Japan, the author shows how simple rules rooted in society, behavioral culture and skills of safe behavior help prevent the spread of the disease.