One thing worth looking at is how background ethical commitments, often not explicitly articulated because taken to be “obvious”, have framed the public health response to #COVID19 in different countries. 1/4
For example, could it be the initial U.K. strategy of “herd immunity” reflected a utilitarian aggregative approach to the common good combined with a characteristically liberal reluctance to let the state curtail everyday liberties? 2/4
Or consider the contrast in approaches between Germany and Sweden. In the former there is a strong anti-utilitarian tradition focussed on the dignity of each individual life - a tradition with sources in both Catholicism and Kantianism. Did it play a role in shaping policy? 3/4
Meanwhile Sweden seems to be an outlier in persisting with a kind of herd immunity strategy. Is there a strong dignitarian tradition there or does utilitarianism have more influence? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but they seem important. 4/4
