Degerman, D., Flinders, M. orcid.org/0000-0003-3585-9010 and Johnson, M.T. (2023) In defence of fear: COVID-19, crises and democracy. In: Llena, C.Z., Stier, J. and Gray, B., (eds.) Crisis and the Culture of Fear and Anxiety in Contemporary Europe. Routledge , pp. 168-186. ISBN 9781032268606
Abstract
The COVID-19 crisis served, not just to instil fear in the populace, but to highlight the importance of fear as a motivating dynamic in politics. The gradual emergence of political philosophical approaches calling for concern for “positive” emotions may have made sense under non-pandemic conditions. Now, however, describing fear in the face of a deadly pandemic as “irrational” or born of “ignorance” seems “irrational” and “ignorant.” This chapter draws upon the work of John Gray and behavioural science to present a defence of fear. It shows how the pandemic has highlighted deficits in the work of four thinkers highly critical of fear: Martha Nussbaum, Zygmunt Bauman, Hannah Arendt and Sarah Ahmed. It is argued that, if such approaches are to be of value in anything other than optimal conditions, then they have to acknowledge the fundamental role of fear in helping human beings to pursue fundamental interests.
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Author(s). This is an author-produced version of a book chapter subsequently published in Crisis and the Culture of Fear and Anxiety in Contemporary Europe. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Politics and International Relations (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 07 Sep 2023 14:38 |
Last Modified: | 01 Feb 2025 01:13 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Routledge |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.4324/9781003290254-11 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:202760 |