Ethics and Responsibility in Facing COVID-19 in the Context of Brazilian Public Agents

Abstract

The year 2020 will be remembered as the year in which a pandemic caused by the SARSCoV- 2 virus precipitated a major disruption in the functioning of contemporary societies. A global event with peculiar regional consequences. It is in this context that we will discuss the ethical aspects of the actions under the responsibility of public officials, namely the ones on national Brazilian relevance for the confrontation of COVID-19. The analysis of the pandemic’s effects in Brazil should be based not only on the events triggered at the current moment, whose transience is still an insufficiently known factor, but also on the social, political, and historically economic determinants that heavily interfere in the present events, as well as in the post epidemic future, highlighting the possible scenarios that the political normative, governmental, social, and economic choices underway point to. The tragedy of our time once again presents us with a challenge that is not new, the challenge of a new order, a global order of survival and, therefore, necessarily, a new ethic, an ethic of a global and profound responsibility. This path can only be treated with wisdom and compassion through a model of responsible governance.

Potter, um caminho pragmático

“…Neste caso, talvez então nos reste apenas a Responsabilidade de Jonas (2006). Aliás, quem sabe, a Sabedoria possa conduzir à Responsabilidade, mesmo porque não poderia existir uma sabedoria irresponsável, ainda que a realidade insista em dizer que o contrário, uma responsabilidade ignorante não apenas é possível, como relativamente frequente, algo que a recente pandemia por Covid-19 deixou bastante evidente (Nohama et al, 2022). De fato, essa Sabedoria de Potter que, quiçá seja aquela "sabedoria iluminada" de Jonas, torne-se o ponto de inflexão e convergência para uma bioética global e profunda da responsabilidade pela sobrevivência digna de toda a biosfera.…”