International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW)

26.05.2020

Harry Potter in Corona times: What we can learn from a modern fairy tale about death and the good life

Blog article by Anna-Lisa Sander

Chancellor Angela Merkel repeatedly urges caution in her handling of the Corona crisis. She was also only cautiously optimistic when announcing significant relaxation of the corona protection measures ( May 6). The background to this is a debate that has been going on intensively for some time: Does the protection of life come before all other valuable goods, above all freedom or dignity? 
In the Tagesspiegel (26.04.), Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble has expressed concern that the protection of life is not the highest legal interest according to the German constitution. Only dignity is inviolable. He thus gave the debate an interesting twist: Isn't it the good life, instead of mere survival, that the contact restrictions were meant to protect?

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