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STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT, Vol. 26 (2021), No. 1, pp. 066-072 DOI: 10.5937/StraMan2101066F Received: December 20, 2020 Accepted: February 3, 2021 Social evolution in times of COVID-19 between politics, economics, and health Alessandro Figus University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy Abstract As well as highlighting difficulties in the health sector at local, national, and international levels, the COVID-19 pandemic has placed states in crisis by questioning the model of globalization, the political system, and the economic system. The article starts from a historical and philosophical analysis and tries to find solutions for getting out of the crisis. Science alone is not enough; it is necessary to redesign sustainable models in the economy and new political strategies. Keywords Social evolution, COVID-19, pandemics, politics, philosophy, economics closer to the best, recognizing that we start from a Introduction state of ignorance that forces us to assiduously The coronavirus pandemic seems to have brought question our ideas. After all, philosophy philosophical discussions to every household in resembles a bit like pandemics, as it pushes us to the world. The classical themes of philosophy, identify priorities and become aware of our limits, such as death, freedom, fear, care, love, education, highlighting new problems, it forces us to reflect, leisure, work, forms of political control, the much more than political science and economics problem of truth, or the place of science in (Chauncey Crandall M.D., 2020). It is precisely society, have today become a matter of the pandemic that has brought to light our confrontation and discussion. To this is added the fragility, the fragility of our time, it has brought us economic problem, in a world already in back to the raw reality, putting life and the economic crisis, due to the slowdown of the importance of it at the centre. Health has so capitalist system that has governed society in the suddenly become central, a daily discussion in our last century. global communication. Think, for example, of the The global pandemic has brought millions of American presidential elections, their media people into quarantine. The huge number of strength, and yet even these have ended up in the deaths has put the system in crisis, the problem of background compared to the pandemic crisis. COVID-19 has become global, entering our Philosophers, who live in a perpetual state of homes overwhelmingly (Figus, 2020). There is exception, have rediscovered how strategic their nothing more instructive than silence about the role can become in times of crisis, precisely problems. This is why we wonder what because the philosopher always questions philosophy serves in a pandemic. The very idea of everything. The coining of the word epidemic, utility also becomes a philosophical problem. Hippocrates, used this term referring to the Philosophy is defined by the critical claim to diseases of distinctive peoples (Angeletti & address the most important issues and help a Gazzaniga, 2008). The doctor assists the traveller Figus Social evolution in times of COVID-19 between politics, economics, and health 67 who is travelling down a difficult path get closer The solution to an epidemic is not limited to to his destination, trying to help him as much as the treatment of bodies or the manipulation of possible. Yes, philosophy and pandemic teach viruses in laboratories but implies learning to live something. We are all passing through it and the with them and prevent them through various crisis (another Hippocratic concept) leads to two measures, including politics, economy and new possible outcomes: relapse or cure. After all, even educational systems. in this globalized society, there is not much The first global pandemic in history distance between learning to die and learning to highlighted contradictions between economy and live. medicine, between freedom and state control, Some wanted to tackle this pandemic from a between telling the truth and avoiding alarmism, unique perspective. They are wondering how between defending our right to demonstrate and philosophers can contribute; after all, they are a limiting contagion. What must prevail? Medicine caste of specialists in everything, and, therefore, or economy, politics, religion, or is public health, how is it possible that they can also cure diseases. the protection of people's health the most Topics like what is at stake is our way of life, the important issue? society we would like to have, the way we have to In this context, the essential role is played by educate ourselves and others, do not seem to have the media, which have been prone to one or the been talked about enough in these years, and this other thing, with changing criteria, revealing clear is why philosophy comes into play. contradictions between medicine and information, The crisis highlights the problems and the between reality and storytelling. crisis has made everyone understand that a society Many see the pandemic as an opportunity for that relies only on the economy does not resist the change, an advantage that will help us understand psychological impact, yet the pandemic is a our vulnerability, make us aware of our mutual natural course of things, with its small and rare interdependence, teach us that we are all equal, damages, to bear with patience. We can say that a encouraging us to build a more just society. Some simple virus cannot move more ideas than a argue that this crisis favours the idea of a more treatise on philosophy. just world. Furthermore, it highlights how this is Hippocrates recommended the doctor to homologated, flat. It is true, it tends to guarantee describe the past, know the present and predict the human rights, the sustainability of future natural future, listing the things a doctor needs to know to resources, even if more in theory than in practice. understand his patients, in what is an obvious We think about climate change and the shared example of the confluence of philosophy and need to take effective measures altogether, but the medicine (Lopez, 2020). The doctor had to learn reality is that you never manage to implement a from nature what is common to all and the project to the end, In the end, it seems that peculiar nature of each one, but also from the globalization has accentuated hypocrisy and not celestial phenomena and every region, from every science. place, from the customs of the people, from the This seems to revive the debate between diet, from the way of life, from the age of each optimists and pessimists that have emerged in one, with words, with attitude, with silence, with other catastrophes that seem new but in reality, thought (Angeletti & Gazzaniga, 2008). are repeated periodically and are part of our history. Think of the plague in Milan or the 1. The pandemic today between Spanish flu of 1918 (Treccani Dictionary, 2020), economy and politics which caused millions of deaths. History often repeats itself, even the measures to contain the Today we rely only on science; in the past, we pandemic of a century ago during the Spanish listened to philosophers more than we do today. pandemic, seem not many different from today: The pandemic reminds us of the interconnection disinfection and closure of public spaces, theatres, of medicine with other realities, where multiple schools, and borders. Since there were no private disciplines converge. Today this tends to be telephones back then, telephones and even forgotten by placing, for example, virology, telephone operators were disinfected, where epidemiology or medicine into the centre of the citizens went to make calls. Historians have also world. All these indeed have various functions discovered that in the United States the fines for whose articulation depends on factors external to those who did not wear a mask amounted to 100 each of them, but they cannot be the driving force dollars (Kelly, 2020). of society. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT, Vol. 26 (2021), No. 1, pp. 066-072 68 Figus Social evolution in times of COVID-19 between politics, economics, and health However that was the past; today we are in a Perhaps politics will draw great benefits from globalized world with a globalized economy, and this experience, medicine will rediscover its role yet suddenly the problem of investment in health and the economy will take advantage to relaunch and the precariousness of research becomes itself after the pandemic. In the end, it is the pressing. Our new goal is no longer economic, but responsibility that must prevail. Meanwhile, the health care. We attach incredible importance to new generations are facing unemployment, but vaccines, changing our idea of the welfare state. some see in the post-pandemic period the We are willing to question our idea of democracy possibility of a revival. as the sovereignty of the people, especially if we The World Health Organization was as accept the definition of sovereignty as the ability incapable of predicting this pandemic as to make decisions in states of emergency. economists were in the face of the 2008 crisis, which then included institutions such as the World 2. A historical perspective Bank or the International Monetary Fund (United Throughout the history of which there are records, Nations, 2020). The graph shows the "global GDP there have been major and relevant pandemics Growth" over the period 1995-2020, highlights that caused a lot of deaths. the global crisis of 2008 and the current crisis of 2020, the only difference that the latter is right