Earth-Bound Study as a Post-Critical Response to the Corona-Crisis

Abstract

In this paper, we want to flesh out what a post-critical way of dealing with the pandemic we face today could consist of. In the first part, we give an account of the current situation in terms of the remarkably ambiguous experience brought about by the intrusion of the COVID-19 virus, which has confronted us with a threat that is radically transcendent and immanent at the same time. In the second part, we go deeper into specific insights that have come about in the wake of this crisis, showing that these insights can be taken in two directions. We can try and align them with what we already know, or we can try to take seriously the unforeseen novelty of the situation. However, in the third part, we argue that we can still answer in a different, more fundamental and truly educational manner. This consists of “being taught” by the virus, thereby re-establishing our relation with the world and its human and non-human “indwellers”. This comes down to reorienting our educational endeavours towards earth-bound study practices, with a view to coming up with new answers to the “old” question of how to live well together.