The Meaning of the Boundary Phenomenon and Its Social Transformation during the First Wave of COVID-19 and Lockdown in Russia

The Russian lockdown 2020 introduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic produced a number of changes not only in the public health, economic and justice system, but also in the sphere of understanding by society of its own place in social reality. The article deals with the question of transformations in social understanding of physical space. The authors primarily emphasize the changes of boundary phenomenon in the public perception. During the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, in the conditions of information deficit and physical closure of borders, Russia found itself in the situation, when the lack of precise knowledges about the events, associated with the global pandemic led to the degradation of established ideas about the surrounding space. The purpose of this article is to highlight the key factors, which led to the qualitative changes in the boundary understanding on the level of the social existence. For the achievement of this goal the authors consecutively solve the following problems: to analyze the types of the boundaries, that have been existing in the public discourse before the lockdown;to follow the process of the new boundaries-understanding genesis and to highlight the main media-factors, that led to the transformations of the boundary-phenomenon in the modern society. The methodical system of this research bases on the analyses of the narrations, existing in the Russian society short before the lockdown (spring 2020). The special attention was paid to the media background, that had constructed world view of an individual at the pandemic’s beginning. The authors conclude, that the lockdown not only restricted the physical space for a human, but also influenced in the qualitative way on the human’s spiritual and emotional space perception. From the line, dividing two political entities, the boundary turned into the special bastion, whose function consisted in, first, separation from the unknown space, where there was the danger of COVID-19, second, physic protection from this danger. © 2022.

Social Philosophical Discourse of the World Risk Society in a Pandemic Situation

The author considers the situation associated with coronavirus pandemic and its possible consequences for social cultural processes. The difficulty in risk analysis is that the risk is between objective and subjective, between rational and irrational, between social and existential. The logic of uniqueness gives way to the logic of ambiguity, which finds its expression in the connection of the risk society with the cosmopolitism. Ulrich Beck's concept of the cosmopolitan turn of modern civilization is updated, which is revealed through the concepts of "danger", "social inequality" and through the existentials "fear", "uncertainty", which indicate the social vulnerability of modern society. We are talking about the need to distinguish between risk and danger, about their complex relationship in modern conditions. Global risks include the coronovirus pandemic: risk has become a global hazard from which future risks and crises originate. The reflexivity of the unknown and the methodological cosmopolitanism – point to a global change in the society in the 21st century, whose priority is security. Cosmopolitanism is expressed in social delocalization, which includes three dimensions: spatial, temporal, and social. Risks have symbolic and existential content and include life guidelines, traditions and cultural norms. The coronavirus was a challenge to the intellectual sphere of society. The author focuses on the transformation of risks in the field of science and education. Self-isolation and social distance initiate the active introduction of distance education and media education. Attempts are being made to identify possible risks resulting from the introduction of media technologies in the educational system. The concept of the multiplicity of interpretations of riskogenics allows us to understand the prospects for the transformation of the global risk society in a pandemic situation.Alternate : Ð’ статье рассматриваются ситуация, связанная с пандемией коронавируса в мировом обществе риска, и ее возможные последствия для социокультурных процессов. Трудность в социально-философском анализе риска заключается в том, что риск находится между субъективным и объективным, между рациональным и иррациональным, между социальным и экзистенциальным. Логика однозначности уступает место логике многозначности, которая находит свое выражение в соединении общества риска с космополитизмом. Актуализируется концепция У. Бека о космополитическом повороте современной цивилизации, это раскрывается через понятия «опасность», «социальное неравенство» и через экзистенциалы «страх», «неуверенность», которые свидетельствуют о социальной уязвимости современного общества. Речь идет о необходимости различения риска и опасности, о их сложной взаимосвязи в современных условиях. К глобальным рискам относится пандемия коронавируса: риск стал глобальной опасностью, из которой берут начало будущие риски и кризисы. Рефлексивность неизвестного и методологический космополитизм мополитизм выражается в социальной делокализации, которая включает три измерения: пространств µÐ½Ð½Ð¾Ðµ, темпоральное и социальное. Риски обладают символическим и экзистенциальным содержанием и включают жизненные ориентиры, традиции и нормы культуры. Коронавирус явился вызовом интеллектуальной сфере общества. Автор акцентирует внимание на трансформации рисков в области науки и образования. Самоизоляция и социальная дистанция инициируют активное внедрение дистанционного образования и медиаобразования. Предпринимаются попытки выявления возможных рисков в результате внедрения медиатехнологий в образовательную систему. Представление о множественности трактовок рискогенности позволяет осмыслить перспективы трансформации мирового общества риска в ситуации пандемии.

Ethics Education for Successful Infectious Disease Control of COVID-19.

The infection rates of COVID-19 have been exponential in some countries despite the imposition of infectious disease control measures such as lockdowns and physical distancing, which form one of the basic principles of public health and infectious disease control. There have been significant problems with leaders and citizenry deliberately ignoring and not complying with such measures and which have directly resulted in sudden rises in infection numbers. Here, I show the nature and extent of the widespread problem and argue that the problem is in large part due to our modern society characterised by liberal individualism. I apply the philosophy proposed by philosopher Alasdair MacIntrye to show that one key underlying cause of the non-compliant behaviour of citizenry is due to modern liberal individualism that has deprived the modern nation state of the opportunities and authority for it to teach or to dictate what is the common good of the society as a whole to individuals in its community. This is the first time MacIntyre's philosophy has been applied to public health, and this paper demonstrates the need for ethics education to counter-balance liberal individualism in order to contain and to prevent another pandemic and public health crisis in modern society.

The common sense of economics and divergent approaches in economic thought: a view from Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit

This paper evaluates the contribution of Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit to the development of economic theory in the 20th century. Our argument in this paper is twofold. First, we contend that this book embodied what had been the common knowledge of early neoclassical economics prior to World War II (WWII). Second, we also argue that embryonic to Knight's account of economics were two divergent approaches to economic thought that emerged after WWII. The first approach, what has come to be known as microeconomics, is characterized by utility maximization under fixed price, income, and institutional parameters that approximate equilibrium. This first approach is distinct from a second approach, referred to as price theory, in which prices are not sufficient statistics, as in microeconomics, but operate as guides to consumption and production decisions under alternative institutional arrangements. This second approach not only represented the continuation of the mainline1 of economic thought from its classical and early neoclassical roots. It also embodies the basis for Knight's understanding of uncertainty, profit and entrepreneurship, as well as its implications for economic organization and social progress.