What kind of world do we want to live in?

At first, my children didn't take the virus, homeschooling, the rising number of victims and the growing number of disaster reports very seriously. They weren't immune to the virus, but they were immune to the end-time feeling that gripped us adults so quickly and so lastingly. While I looked out at the deserted street from our flat in the morning and had to seriously pull myself together so as not to shout out loud: «Where have you gone, life?», they were living the age-old dream of all schoolchildren: Holidays forever.

In the meantime, the crisis has progressed. I now notice the imperfect parts of our family more clearly. The fact that the overall situation is also becoming increasingly depressing and the outlook remains bleak weighs on us like a coat of lead. One of the hardest things to bear is the uncertainty.

When my children ask: When will it all be over?
I have to answer: I don't know.
When they ask: Will it ever be the same again?
I have to answer: I don't know.

People get together and design a new social order

Of course, there are people who see an opportunity in the current crisis. But «seeing corona as an opportunity» is probably mainly something for people who «have every opportunity in the world 365 days a year anyway», as the German satirist Sophie Passmann aptly observed. And yet, in the midst of uncertainty, we have to ask ourselves this question: How do we want to live? Here too: I don't know the answer. But I do have a suggestion as to how we can get closer to an answer.

It comes from the American philosopher John Rawls, who had a profound experience of injustice as a young soldier that left a lasting impression on him: he was demoted after refusing to punish a subordinate. Rawls completed a doctorate in philosophy and wrote his theory of justice in 1971. The work is based on a thought experiment: what would a fairer world look like? And how could people agree that everyone, really everyone, would find it fair?

His answer is the so-called «veil of ignorance»: people sit down together and design a new social order. They do so under one condition: they do not know where they will be in this new society. Whether they are sick or healthy, strong or weak, poor or rich - that is the veil of ignorance. Under this condition, according to Rawls, if we do not know whether we can benefit, we would create a just world. It is a utopian, unrealistic thought. But if we are going to build a new world after corona, a world that we can expect our children to live in, perhaps we should dare to think it after all.

About the author:

Mikael Krogerus is the author and editor of «Magazin». Mikael Krogerus is the father of a daughter and a son. He lives with his family in Basel.

More columns by Mikael Krogerus:

• War das mit dem Kinderkriegen eigentlich eine gute Idee?
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  Unser Kolumnist Mikael Krogerus sinniert über seine Grabinschrift und wer eigentlich die Gallionsfigur der aktuellen Krise sein könnte. 

• Was wirklich wichtig ist, hat der Autor schon im Kindergarten gelernt. Heute schickt er nachträglich ein Dankeschön an seine Kindergärtnerin Frau Wolff.