What are the limits of freedom during pandemic? A reflexion based on John Rawls’s work
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2318-8235.v116p233-247Keywords:
Pandemic, Law n. 13.979/2020, Liberties, John Rawls, Morals, Corrective justice, Distributive justiceAbstract
The Covid-19 pandemic brought hard times to all countries. In order to control virus spreading, Brazil enacted the Law no. 13,979/2020, which established restrictions to many liberties, such as masks in public areas, quarantine, and sanitary barriers. Considering that there is resistance to sanitary measures, based on the right to freedom, this article questions whether these rules are morally justified, taking as a parameter the most influential liberal theory of justice in contemporary debates: John Rawls´s theory. I will claim that the limitation on freedom is reasonable even from the point of view of the rational and self-interested part, in Rawlsian original position. Finally, I will argue that coordination of liberties is a matter of distributive justice rather than corrective justice, because it concerns the fruition of a common good (air, public space) by all. In this context, the restrictions allow the use of the common good to occur in harmony with the right to life and health of each one. I will show that such limitations are justified on the basis of a liberal theory of justice and that it makes no sense to attack such limitations on the basis of an abstract right to freedom.
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