Coronavirus, Psychoanalysis, and Philosophy

"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 is 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, Edinburgh Napier University.

"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 is 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, Edinburgh Napier University.

"(This book) addresses this event in terms of the political, social, philosophical and psychological implications. The papers vary in length from 1 to 6 pages and the book is split up into 3 fairly distinct parts, though there is some overlap and several of the same contributors’ varied essays appear in different sections."

--Sarah McMichael, Psychodynamic Practice