Biopolitics and normativity: two philosophical approaches about the Covid-19 pandemic from Agamben and Habermas

Abstract

This paper analyzes the problem of the Covid-19 pandemic from a philosophical point of view from the contributions of Agamben and Habermas. Agamben addresses the biopolitical dimension of the pandemic and suggests that the social isolation is an exceptional political strategy aimed at limiting people’s freedom. Thus, he speaks of “epidemic invention”. Habermas approaches Covid-19 from a normative point of view considering that issues must be reflected from an ethical perspective of the human dignity, and from a political dimension of the solidarity. My hypothesis is that Agamben gets his analysis right on some points, but it has limits because it does not consider the biological dimension of Covid-19’s lethality. Thereby, Habermas’ analysis is more consistent with a realistic approach to the virus because it subscribes to the scientific guidelines of the World Health Organization and claims the normative role of human rights in ethical-political decisions that search to attenuate the pandemic impacts.