.Philosophy has a very important role in elaborating every crucial issue, including the issue of the covid 19 pandemic. The two key words in elaborating and understanding the covid-19 pandemic are humans and science. With the advancement of science, it has led humans to the peak of science which was marked by the first human industrial revolution, namely the use of steam engines and exploitation of nature on a large scale without regard to the ecological impact on nature. In addition, the clearing of land for plantations forces humans to clear forests which causes animal habitats and ecosystems to be disturbed. Giant machines dig the earth to dredge natural resources for human greed and accumulate capital and wealth. Under the pretext of unlimited human needs, it is used as a justification for exploiting nature and storing wealth. This is even more terrible with the system of capitalism and neoliberalism which provides a way for a handful of people to reap profits and save them for personal gain. So the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
In the midst of a human situation that is in a state of complacency with its greed for nature, the world was suddenly shocked by news from Wuhan, China about the discovery of a covid-19 case at the end of 2019. How was the world's reaction at the beginning of the emergence of the covid-19 virus? Of course, just like seeing a ghost, the majority of the countries in the world are skeptical and apathetic until they see and experience it for themselves. The same thing happened in Indonesia, to the point that policy makers were apathetic and even made jokes like "Indonesia is immune to Corona with the presence of shamans", "Indonesia will not be affected by Corona because there are many Muslims", and so on. said "Corona is afraid to enter Indonesia". The apathy of both the government and the majority of Indonesian people changed after President Joko Widodo finally announced the first positive case of covid-19 in March 2020. These jokes suddenly turned into fear and the government began to be nervous in its efforts to deal with the covid-19 virus pandemic which was until the beginning. 2021 has no signs of ending. The community is equally panicked because the government feels that it is not paying attention to its citizens. In addition, this pandemic has an impact on the business sector, agriculture, education, social life, and other aspects of life that prevent people from doing activities freely.
From this COVID-19 pandemic, humans are forced to realize two things. First, the realization that in essence humans have the same position and the differences that bind them are only the illusion of social reconstruction. Here, the philosophy of humanism finds a place that human beings are essentially equal and free without being shackled by caste or social strata. This awareness must arise because the covid-19 virus can attack anyone regardless of their religious background, nation, profession, rich or poor. How this virus has made us realize that our position in this world is the same. Second, the Covid-19 tragedy is present as the power of the cosmos (sunnatullah – ed) to stop human desires that tend to be greedy and excessive. As explained earlier, science and science that humans control in fact have a very dire impact on the destruction of nature and overexploitation. Instead of bringing good, technology and science turned into a curse. What's wrong, now the control of forest land, mines, and beaches is only controlled by a few investors. As a result, land burning causes toddlers to be exposed to ARI (acute respiratory infection), mining damages the environment, and the cement industry disrupts the environmental balance because water absorption is hampered. The rapid development of automotive actually causes congestion and pollution to become the breath of daily life.
This is the time for humans to reflect and recall the journey of human sapiens that has lasted thousands of years. The journey that is always side by side with science (because this is what distinguishes humans from other creatures) should lead to awareness as stated by Soren Kierkegaard that how hedonic life in the aesthetic phase cannot lead humans to peace. To what extent will nature be cultivated to satisfy human desires? Another realization that human arrogance subdues nature is a mirage and the fact that nature is now turning to vent its anger as a result of man's own arrogance. And the most terrible thing is the impact of arrogance that may not be done by all humans but in fact the impact will also be felt by other innocent human beings. Humans and science, like two things in one coin that stick together. But the two of them went without a direction. This is where something is missing. During this pandemic where nature is recovering slightly, humans can reflect on something that was lost. Something that can be the last bastion of the absurdity and chaos of the world as a result of human actions. That something is faith, faith in God. Humans and science will walk ethically by using the compass of faith. Thus science will deliver humans to the highest nature of humanity, namely as 'Abdullah and Khalifatullah.
Enjoyed this piece.
We learnt so much in the pandemic - however, our memories are short and as life goes back to normal we will ignore all the lessons we learnt. I feel alittle despair at the moment, to be honest, about our capacity to heed all the warnings we've been given and continue blindly to our own destruction.
In many ways I appreciated the first months of the pandemic as it was absolutely fascinating to philosophise on these big things that the virus was forcing us to look at.