Being Smart in the Context of a Crisis: Ethical Paradoxes

Abstract

The present chapter discusses how generalised acute crises, as the one brought by Covid-19, and the need to quickly overcome them, may potentially foster the loosen or drop off of ethical values previously regarded as unquestionable, not only on the part of individuals but also at an institutional level. The author claims that it is precise during a crisis, as the one that characterises the present global sanitary threat, that ethical guidelines grounded on unquestionable human rights must clearly and strongly uphold the whole societal edifice.