THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Andrej Božič / 1. 5. 2021

Esteemed Colleagues:

We would hereby like to kindly inform you of the publication of a special issue of the Slovenian journal of phenomenology and hermeneutics Phainomena, which is in its entirety dedicated to the pandemic of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

The issue entitled “The COVID-19 Crisis” that entails contributions in the English, German, and Slovenian languages and was edited by Dr. Andrej Božič divulges a vast variety of reciprocally complementing approaches to an extraordinarily puzzling phenomenon. Whilst the initial articles, upon the basis of an effort to procure a detailed description of pandemic conditions concerning both the individuality of human beings as well as the communality of humanity, emphasize the pivotal impact of COVID-19 onto the perception of reality and the relation towards it, subsequent essays explore the narrative modalities motivated by the confrontation with the coronavirus that can enable embodied, lived solidarity, whereby not only the ethical impulse of theoretical contemplation becomes manifest, but also the resistances, such as “coronationalism” or fear of facemasks, receive a counterbalancing exposition. The paradoxical repercussions of the struggle against the disease are further demonstrated with the help of characteristic “case studies” devoting focus to the treatment of healthcare workers in Poland or to the challenges of tourism in Slovenia. Although the development and the distribution of vaccines seem to direct our glances towards a re-solution of the COVID-19 crisis, its many-sided aftermaths are yet to be gradually realized to the consummate degree: for now, at least, we are, whilst trying to take responsibility for our comportment, whilst therethrough trying to maintain our dignity, however still “in the midst of the storm.” The documentary section of the issue includes not only the German original, but also the English as well as Slovenian translations of a shorter, nigh unknown essay by Hans-Georg Gadamer that was authored at the end of the Second World War, and in a fateful historical moment addressed the question, with which we are perhaps also confronted through today’s pandemic crisis: “What is man?”

Should you perhaps be interested in the phenomenological and hermeneutical aspects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we would like to encourage you to access the freely available issue Nr. 116-117 of the Phainomena journal via the link below.

Yours faithfully,
Andrej Božič

Phainomena 30 | 116–117 | April 2021

Andrej Božič (Ed.)

“The COVID-19 Crisis”

Authors: Andrej Božič | Daniel R. Sobota | Svetlana Sabeva | Jarosław Gara | Victor Molchanov | Silvia Pierosara | Veronica Neri | Uroš Milić | Zmago Švajncer Vrečko | Paulina Sosnowska | Lea-Marija Colarič-Jakše | Holger Zaborowski | Hans-Georg Gadamer | Polona Tratnik

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