Table Of Content“ ‘There are weeks when decades happen,’ Lenin said about the Russian
revolution. More than a century later, this collection of essays written by
today’s finest thinkers, reports from within the trenches of the coronavirus
crisis, speaking with urgency and fierce immediacy. Avoid this book like the
plague if you wish to ignore our fundamental precariousness. Bristling with
electric truth, this collection will offer another chance, new antibodies, a
biobank for the future.”
– Patricia Gherovici, psychoanalyst and author of
Transgender Psychoanalysis
“The impossible has happened! Capitalism has been brought to heel by the
force of a pandemic. What new thought does the virus make possible? What has
the pandemic touched in all of us? As the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy reflects:
‘Does this mean we are in a better position to reflect on this community?
The problem is that the virus is still its main representative; that between the
surveillance model and the welfare model, only the virus remains as a common
property.’ And yet, this collection of essays testifies to beginning to think
together at the place of the virus, showing how it exposes the imbrication of
politics and life, and the ever present denial of death that guides our violent
compulsion to repeat. In a moment where life and death are being weighed
anew, we need these public intellectuals more than ever.”
– Jamieson Webster, Ph.D., psychoanalyst, author,
professor at The New School
“Coronavirus has occasioned an outpouring of theoretical speculation. It has
produced intellectual whiplash as it prompts conservatives to sound like leftists
and leftists to echo conservative talking points. Here is a collection that will
allow us to keep track of where everyone stands. Coronavirus, Psychoanalysis, and
Philosophy collects work from our most important theorists on the outbreak and
puts them in dialogue with each other and with the most important thinkers
from the past. The result is an absolute necessity for anyone hoping to gain a
sense of where we stand today.”
– Todd McGowan, Ph.D., author and professor
at University of Vermont
“Covid-19 has undoubtedly been the phenomenon of our time – in the true
sense of the phenomenal; it figures uniquely for all who encounter it and what
we encounter when we encounter it is never a thing in itself, but is always
overdetermined through the lens of science, of the social, the political, the
medical, the conspiratorial. This exceptional collection of interactive essays
captures this phenomenal moment in all its complexity, opening up the key
question, which is not, what is covid-19? but is rather, what do we do with the
multifaceted experience that is covid-19?”
– Dr Calum Neill, associate professor of psychoanalysis and cultural
theory at Edinburgh Napier University
Coronavirus, Psychoanalysis, and
Philosophy
Originally published in the European Journal of Psychoanalysis (EJP), the essays
in this volume are a set of responses to the coronavirus crisis by distinguished
philosophers and psychoanalysts from around the globe.
The coronavirus irrupted, making swift and deep cuts in the fabric of our
existence: the risks of contagion and indefinite periods of isolation have radically
altered the functioning of society. Pandemics do not wait for comprehension
in order to proliferate. Confusion, sickness, and death punctuate the failure of
governments worldwide to respond. This collection of writings examines the
effects of the pandemic and the conditions that make possible such a global
crisis. The writers provoke us to consider how capitalism, governmental power,
and biopolitics mold the contours of life and death. The contributors in this
collection ignite urgent political dialogue, address emergent transformations in
the social field, and offer perspectives on shifts in subjectivity and psychoanalytic
practice. Beyond providing reflections on the impact of the coronavirus, the
authors point to determinants of how the crisis will unfold and what may be
on the horizon.
This book will be invaluable to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, philosophers,
and to all of those interested in the implications of the virus for psychoanalytic
practice and theory and the social, cultural and political spheres of our world.
Fernando Castrillón, Psy.D., Editor in Chief of the European Journal of
Psychoanalysis, is a personal and supervising psychoanalyst, professor in the
Community Mental Health Program at the California Institute of Integral
Studies (CIIS), and a member of the Istituto Elvio Fachinelli ISAP (Institute of
Advanced Studies in Psychoanalysis) based in Rome, Italy. He is the author of
a book and numerous articles in both Spanish and English.
Thomas Marchevsky, Ph.D., is an editor of the European Journal of
Psychoanalysis and has a psychoanalytic practice in San Francisco, California.
He is Clinical Director of The Clinic Without Walls and an adjunct faculty
member at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS).
Coronavirus, Psychoanalysis,
and Philosophy
Conversations on Pandemics, Politics,
and Society
Edited by Fernando Castrillón
and Thomas Marchevsky
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Fernando Castrillón and Thomas
Marchevsky; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Fernando Castrillón and Thomas Marchevsky to be identified
as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Castrillón, Fernando, editor. | Marchevsky, Thomas, 1981– editor.
Title: Coronavirus, psychoanalysis, and philosophy : conversations on
pandemics, politics, and society / edited by Fernando Castrillón and
Thomas Marchevsky.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge,
2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020046939 (print) | LCCN 2020046940 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367713645 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367713669 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003150497 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: COVID-19 (Disease) | COVID-19 (Disease)—
Philosophy. | COVID-19 (Disease)—Political aspects. | COVID-19
(Disease)—Social aspects.
Classification: LCC RA644.C67 C683 2021 (print) | LCC RA644.C67
(ebook) | DDC 614.5/92414—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046939
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046940
ISBN: 978-0-367-71364-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-71366-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-15049-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To the memory of the following women: Leonor
Quintero Castrillón, Leonor Hurtado Echeverri,
Cupertina Castrillón Mendoza, Kim Johnson Bogart,
and Audrey Albrecht. A tribute to each of you lives
on in me.
—Fernando Castrillón
For Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and Roger B. Levin
—Thomas Marchevsky
Contents
List of contributors xii
Permissions xv
Acknowledgements xvi
Introduction: of pestilence, chaos, and time 1
FERNANDO CASTRILLÓN AND THOMAS MARCHEVSKY
PART I
Philosophers speak 21
1 Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison (an excerpt) 23
MICHEL FOUCAULT
2 A viral exception 27
JEAN-LUC NANCY
3 Cured to the bitter end 28
ROBERTO ESPOSITO
4 Riposte to Roberto Esposito 30
JEAN-LUC NANCY
5 The community of the forsaken: a response
to Agamben and Nancy 31
DIVYA DWIVEDI AND SHAJ MOHAN
6 The virtues of the virus 35
ROCCO RONCHI
7 The threat of contagion 39
MASSIMO DE CAROLIS
