Intercultural dialogues in times of global pandemics : the Confucian ethics of relations and social organization in Sinic societies

Rošker, Jana S. (author)

Since COVID-19 is a global-scale pandemic, it can only be solved on the global level. In this context, intercultural dialogues are of utmost importance. Indeed, different models of traditional ethics might be of assistance in constructing a new, global ethics that could help us confront the present predicament and prepare for other possible global crises that might await us in the future. The explosive, pandemic spread of COVID-19 in 2020 clearly demonstrated that in general, one of the most effective tools for containment of the epidemics is precisely human and interpersonal solidarity, which must also be accompanied by a certain degree of autonomous self-discipline. The present paper follows the presumption that these types of personal and interpersonal attitudes are—inter alia—culturally conditioned and hence influenced by different traditional models of social ethics. In light of the fact that East-Asian or Sinic societies were more successful and effective in the process of containing and eliminating the virus compared to the strategies of the Euro-American regions, I will first question the widespread assumption that this effectiveness is linked to the authoritarian political traditions of the Sinic East and Southeast Asian areas. Then, I will critically introduce the Confucian ethics of relations, which in various ways has influenced the social structures of these regions, and clarify the question of whether and in which way the relics of this ethics had an actual effect on the crisis resolution measurements. The crucial aim of this paper is to contribute to the construction of theoretical groundworks for a new, transculturally grounded global ethics, which is more needed today than ever before.

• Language: English
• Keywords: global pandemic, COVID-19, intercultural exchanges, Confucianism, structure of Sinic societies
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: Str. 206-216
• Numbering: Vol. 11, Iss. 3-4
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-134038
• UDC: 316:578.834
• ISSN on article: 2453-7829
• DOI: 10.2478/ebce-2021-0011
• COBISS.SI-ID: 90523907
• Publication date in RUL: 22.12.2021

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Ethics & bioethics
• Shortened title: Ethics bioeth.
• Publisher: Vydavatelstvo Prešovskej univerzity, De Gruyter
• ISSN: 2453-7829
• COBISS.SI-ID: 529734681

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: globalna pandemija, COVID-19, medkulturne izmenjave, konfucijanstvo, struktura siniških družb

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Funding programme: Temeljni raziskovalni projekt
• Project number: N6―0161
• Name: Humanizem v medkulturni perspektivi: Evropa in Kitajska
• Acronym: HUMEC

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Funding programme: Raziskovalni program
• Project number: P6-0243 (A)
• Name: Azijski jeziki in kulture
• Acronym: AJK