Doing the Right Thing: A Reflection by UCI Philosophy Graduate Student Itzel Aurora Garcia

A common view in political philosophy takes society to be a system of cooperation between people, government, and the institutions that connect them. As someone living in California, news of COVID-19's spread has rapidly become more personal...

Reports of a severe outbreak in China have now been replaced by testimonial accounts from my friends in Italy, confirmations of the virus' presence in Orange County, and, finally, a positive test result for an individual in my own graduate housing community. With the pandemic inching close, I can’t help but reflect on this philosophical model.

We are urged to stay home to help “flatten the curve,” to not overwhelm our healthcare system and to protect the most vulnerable among us. Presumably, as members of society we are all under a moral obligation to do our part and contribute to the success of these efforts. Nevertheless, every day I see people who grant themselves special exemption to these directives: the college student doesn’t have symptoms, and hangs out with friends; a housekeeper, under the pressure of requiring rent money, is asked by her boss to continue to work; spring breakers, thinking that it is all a sensationalized news story, refuse to waste a good beach day; a religious couple continue to attend church…the list goes on.

I think anger is not only a rational response to people’s failure to think about their actions macroscopically, but it is also a morally appropriate one. We must hold each other accountable—and now, when lives are at stake, the role of community enforcement is crucial. However, I think it is also important to practice empathy. Given that we cannot control how others think and act, it is important to remember that people have reasons—whether good or not—for the choices they make. It is possible that continuing to socialize is the student’s way to deal with crippling anxiety over the situation, the housekeeper needs the money to pay rent, perhaps one of the spring breakers on the beach avoided suicide because they had this vacation to look forward to, the religious couple genuinely thinks God can change all this, etc.

If we expect others to think about their actions macroscopically, I think part of our anger should also be macroscopic: we must acknowledge the role of government in all this. Individual responsibility is an important part of the problems we now face as a nation, but it is not the only one. Isn’t making sure this kind of situation goes well one of the main reasons to have a government in the first place? People are always going to do whatever they want to do, this is the way it has always been in liberal societies—societies that value individuality and autonomy—such as ours. A pandemic is not going to suddenly change this. Perhaps though, the role of government in situations like this, should be to make sure everyone a) can do the right thing and b) does the right thing. I think the United States is currently failing at a). We obviously have economic issues to consider, which make philosophical reflection only an ideal, but it’s clear that staying home is hard for those who risk losing a roof over their heads—a situation the government could help alleviate. Similarly, the state owns much of the land people are choosing to congregate in, I take access to these places could and should be substantially limited for now. At the very least our leadership should take seriously the threat that we might soon become like China and Italy, and communicate this threat clearly and urgently to people. Part of choosing to do the right thing after all, is knowing what the “right thing” is.