Philosophy of medicine and ethical cosmopolitanism : transformational ethics and human communication in pandemic

Abstract EN

The aim of this paper is to shed some lights on human communications in the time of epidemic from one side, and to critically investigate some ethical challenges confronting either individuals, communities or entities.

Epidemic creates new forms of human communications and new unusual procedures through which values such as cooperation, sympathy, sacrifice and care have been submitted to firm exam.

Respectively, various debates and arguments calling for universal system of ethics are being examined during epidemic times.

The controversy question remains whether or not ethical cosmopolitanism as a system of universal values is valid to be implemented during pandemic.

If the answer is not, the question follows, what is the need of ethical cosmopolitanism claims since it is a suspicious claim and is not in use in the most threatening time encountering both individuals and societies.

Therefore, this study aims to examine some of ethical cosmopolitanism arguments and to show its tensions when they come to real test in our present world.

It concludes that ethical cosmopolitanism is doubtful appeal in pandemic and we need another system of ethics that compromises between what it really exists and conditioned by both time and space from one side and what ought to be transcending both time and space.

In the light of that reconciliation, the present paper argues for a new theoretical perspective that may be valid and applied in pandemic.

This new theoretical approach what we call transformational ethics.