2: Nozick, the Pandemic and Fear: A Contractualist Justification of the COVID-19 Lockdown

Author:
Elias Moser
Publication Date:
31 Jul 2024
Pages:
43–64
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529242904.ch002
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As a reaction to COVID-19, many democratic countries around the world imposed a curfew on their entire population. Schools, shops, public and private buildings were shut down while all forms of public assembly were temporarily banned. Strong restrictions were imposed on liberties in many domains of the quotidian life of citizens to preclude a collapse of the health system. From the perspective of political philosophy, the normative legitimacy of lockdown policies needs to be investigated. Under which conditions can large-scale interventions in the private and public spheres be justified? In this chapter, I discuss contractualist political theory as a potential framework for assessing the restrictions as a response to the menace of a global pandemic. I will apply the reflections of Robert Nozick in the first part of his famous Anarchy, State, and Utopia. His reflections on how a society should deal with risks are of great value in assessing policies to combat the spread of viruses. Nozick introduces a surprising element in his theory that is an important factor for a potential justification of lockdown policies – the incidence of fear. Because people are afraid of the worst outcome, they are willing to prohibit conduct that includes risks, and they are willing to restrict their own liberty to engage in that conduct.

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