Educational Philosophy and Theory
ISSN: 0013-1857 (Print) 1469-5812 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rept20
The Plague: Human resilience and the collective
response to catastrophe
Michael A. Peters
To cite this article: Michael A. Peters (2020): The�Plague: Human resilience and
the collective response to catastrophe, Educational Philosophy and Theory, DOI:
10.1080/00131857.2020.1745921
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1745921
Published online: 02 Apr 2020.
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EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY
https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1745921
EDITORIAL
The Plague: Human resilience and the collective response to
catastrophe
What’s true of all the evils in the world is true of plague as well. It helps men [sic] to rise above themselves.
– Albert Camus, The Plague
Many novelists and philosophers have commented on the theme of the resilience of the human
spirit in times of struggle or catastrophe – the collective overcoming of human suffering, the
existence of the human spirit in brutalizing environments, the resilience by communities and
countries in times of war or terrorism, forms of community self-help and sacrifice when earthquakes, floods or storms strike. The capacity to recover quickly from tragedies, the adaptability,
strength and flexibility to overcome vulnerabilities especially of the weak, the attitude to mentally or emotionally cope with a crisis, to cope with pain and discomfort and ultimately to contemplate and face death especially one’s own is a common set of related themes for those who
want to highlight the ability of human beings as a species to transcend hardship. Catastrophes
can bring out and highlight the difference between individual self-interest and social responsibility as we have already witnessed in the time of the pandemic Covid-19. Some individuals, doctors and nurses, have sacrificed themselves for the greater good, exposing themselves to the ill
and full of exhaustion weakening their own vulnerability. Some humanitarian groups and associations have risked their own lives to save others, while others – individuals and groups – simply
look for profit or advantage in the misery of others. How the majority in a society act under the
threat of disaster determines what kind of society it is – indeed whether it is a ‘society’ at all.
The public health consequences of hate can be hugely damaging, as Sandro Galeo (2020) notes
‘Population health scholarship over the past two decades has illuminated how prejudice, discrimination and segregation, linked to inter-personal hatred and antagonism, have a pernicious and
ß 2020 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia
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EDITORIAL
pervasive effect on the health of populations’.1 Empathy is a prerequisite for a healthy world and
empathy demands community.
The question of how to encourage citizens to do the right thing – to self-isolate rather than
consciously not care of spreading the virus – can be developed and enhanced by official narratives, sometimes by punishment, and sometimes, it is claimed, through the ‘nudge theory’, a
concept in behavioural science that suggests positive reinforcement can influence compliance
sometimes better than education, legislation or policing. For my part I am sceptical of ‘nudge
theory’ and would argue it depends upon the prevailing societal norms; thus, nudge theory is
less likely to work in a society that is based on individual self-interest rather than community
self-help. In any disaster, given societal norms, people are likely to act first in terms of self-preservation on the basis of fear, anxiety and panic (witness ‘panic buying’). Group preservation is
another response that may come later that requires some changes in behaviour; followed by
blaming and justice-seeking. Finally, ‘renormalising’ might indicate that people have accepted
that they have to adapt to the crisis.2
‘Resilience’ has become a psychological theory and field of wellness research focused on the
ability to cope or adapt when confronted with adverse life events and committed to the idea that
individuals can learn techniques to build resilience: cognitive reframing techniques, character-building, stress management, viewing crises as challenges; learning to accept things you can’t change;
sharing feelings, and keeping things in perspective. In positive psychology resilience theory studies
resilience as a biopsychosocial and spiritual phenomenon which is ‘the developable capacity to
rebound or bounce back from adversity, conflict, and failure or even positive events, progress, and
increased responsibility’ (Luthans, 2002, p. 702).3 It is clear that the understanding of social vulnerability also requires an understanding of context and how different groups are prone to hazard
because of socio-economic factors, age, gender, race or ethnicity (Fleming & Ledogar, 2008).
I tend to revert to my philosophical training and tend to emphasise philosophical models or
theories rather than psychological ones although both need to be tempered with history and
political economy. In this regard, the work of Albert Camus stands as a monument to human
dignity and solidarity in a world that often seems meaningless. The Plague (La Peste) is a novel
published by Albert Camus in 1947 that investigates the human condition when a plague epidemic strikes Oran, an Algerian city, set in the 1940s. A cholera epidemic struck the city in 1849
decimating the town’s population and the city has suffered from multiple attacks of cholera
from the Middle Ages through to modern times. The novel is said to elucidate the human
response to the absurd, a notion that stands at the centre of Camus’ philosophy. The novel now
recognized as a classic piece of philosophical literature and has been adapted as a cantata
(Roberto Gerhard, 1965), a film (La Peste, Luis Puenzo, 1992), a play (The Plague, Neil Bartlett,
2017).4 Camus begins the novel with an epigraph from Daniel Defoe: ‘It is as reasonable to represent one kind of imprisonment by another, as it is to represent anything that really exists by
that which exists not’. The ‘imprisonment’ has been taken as referring to the Nazi occupation of
France and the struggle of the European resistance against the Nazis. Daniel Defoe’s Journal of
the Plague Year (1722) was an account of London’s bubonic plague some 57 years after sweeping
the city. Defoe includes the following on the opening page:
being observations or memorials
of the most remarkable occurrences,
as well public as private, which happened in
London during the last great visitation in 1665.
Written by a Citizen who continued
all the while in London.
Never made public before5
EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY
3
Echoing the growing prevalence of conspiracy theories in the time of Coronavirus, Defoe
describes ‘the apprehensions of the people’, that were:
strangely increased by the error of the times; in which, I think, the people, from what principle I cannot
imagine, were more addicted to prophecies and astrological conjurations, dreams, and old wives’ tales than
ever they were before or since. Whether this unhappy temper was originally raised by the follies of some
people who got money by it—that is to say, by printing predictions and prognostications—I know not; but
certain it is, books frighted them terribly, such as Lilly’s Almanack, Gadbury’s Astrological Predictions, Poor
Robin’s Almanack, and the like; also several pretended religious books, one entitled, Come out of her, my
People, lest you be Partaker of her Plagues; another called, Fair Warning; another, Britain’s Remembrancer;
and many such, all, or most part of which, foretold, directly or covertly, the ruin of the city. Nay, some were
so enthusiastically bold as to run about the streets with their oral predictions, pretending they were sent to
preach to the city; and one in particular, who, like Jonah to Nineveh, cried in the streets, ‘Yet forty days,
and London shall be destroyed’.
Camus needless to say was strongly influenced by Defoe’s account. La Peste was Camus’ second
novel, after L’Etranger (1942; The Stranger). He had been troubled by periodic attacks of tuberculosis.
Living in Algiers as a student of philosophy Camus gained his aggregation on the writings of
Plotinus and St Augustine. Strongly influence by both Andre Gide and Andre Malraux, Camus in the
‘forties contributed landmark plays to the Theatre of the Absurd, following his influential essay “The
Myth of Sisyphus” (1942) that indicated the human situation is essentially absurd and devoid of purpose giving rise to the question of whether the realization of the meaninglessness and absurdity of
life necessarily require suicide? Three consequences follow from acknowledging the absurd: revolt,
freedom and passion. As Camus suggests in the opening sentence:’
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth
living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest—whether or not the world
has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories—comes afterwards. These are games;
one must first answer. And if it is true, as Nietzsche claims, that a philosopher, to deserve our respect, must
preach by example, you can appreciate the importance of that reply, for it will precede the definitive act. These
are facts the heart can feel; yet they call for careful study before they become clear to the intellect.6
In The Plague, Camus is seeking a way of overcoming nihilism exemplified through the fight
against an epidemic. Without ta characterological analysis or plot the structure of the novel in
five parts revolve around the plague – it arrival, its duration and decline: thousands of rats begin
to die in the streets; hysteria develops. A doctor (Dr. Rieux) concludes that the bubonic plague is
sweeping the town. The authorities are slow to accept the diagnosis or situation. The town is
sealed off. A group acting together decide to fight the epidemic but the situation becomes
worse. Violence begins on a small scale and people trying to escape the town are shot. The
main characters visit an isolation camp and one dies. One character profits from the plague.
Finally, the town gates are opened as the plague declines. The narrator reflecting on the experience concludes there is more to admire in human beings than to despise.
In his book blog for the Guardian Ed Vulliamy (2015) notes ‘The fascist “plague” that inspired
the novel may have gone, but 55 years after his death, many other varieties of pestilence keep
this book urgently relevant’.7 Marina Warner (2003) writes:
Far from being a study in existential disaffection, as I had so badly misremembered, The Plague is about courage,
about engagement, about paltriness and generosity, about small heroism and large cowardice, and about all
kinds of profoundly humanist problems, such as love and goodness, happiness and mutual connection.8
Sales of Camus’ book have rocketed, tripling in Italy and selling 1,600 in a week in France in
the last week of January.9 The World Economic Forum names The Plague as on of ‘5 books to
read for context on the coronavirus outbreak’.10 The site also usefully provides ‘Covid Action
Platform’ and a number of brief articles including ‘Coronavirus isn’t an outlier, it’s part of our
interconnected viral age’.11 Sean Illing (2020) inspired by Camus’ novel writes: ‘This is a time for
solidarity: What Albert Camus’s “The Plague” can teach us about life in a pandemic’.12 He suggests Covid-19 doesn’t discriminate: ‘Whoever you are, wherever you live, you’re vulnerable, at
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EDITORIAL
least in principle. While some of us may fare better because of our age or health, the microbes
themselves are impartial’ which means ‘we’re all in the same boat’ but accepting this is ‘uniquely
difficult in America’ because ‘This country is built on a cult of individualism’.
What can the novel coronavirus Covid-19 tell us about contagion and the human condition?
That ultimately the only answer metaphysically is solidarity based on a kind of love for our fellow
human beings – not ‘me first’, not ‘America First’ but, indeed, the exact opposite, a responsible
form of globalisation that recognises that we are only as strong as our weakest link.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
https://www.bu.edu/sph/2015/01/18/the-public-health-consequences-of-hate/
https://www.sandrogalea.org/healthiestgoldfish/2018/5/15/disasters-and-public-health
https://positivepsychology.com/resilience-theory/
See the translation by Stuart Gibert at https://antilogicalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/the-plague.pdf
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/376/376-h/376-h.htm
https://www2.hawaii.edu/freeman/courses/phil360/16.%20Myth%20of%20Sisyphus.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/jan/05/albert-camus-the-plague-fascist-death-ed-vulliamy
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/apr/26/classics.albertcamus
https://www.actualitte.com/article/monde-edition/italie-a-l-ere-du-coronavirus-la-peste-de-camus-devient-unbest-seller/99478; https://twitter.com/edistat_actu/status/1234450836538957824
10. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/coronavirus-books-pandemic-reading-covid19/
11. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/coronavirus-global-epidemics-health-pandemic-covid-19
12. https://www.vox.com/2020/3/13/21172237/coronavirus-covid-19-albert-camus-the-plague
ORCID
Michael A. Peters
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1482-2975
References
Camus, A. (1947). La Peste, Paris: Gallimand.
Fleming, J., & Ledogar, R. J. (2008). Resilience, an evolving concept: A review of literature relevant to aboriginal
research. Pimatisiwin, 6(2), 7–23.
Galeo, S. (2020). The Public Health Consequences of Hate. https://www.bu.edu/sph/2015/01/18/the-public-health-consequences-of-hate/
Illing, S. (2020). This is a time for solidarity. https://www.vox.com/2020/3/13/21172237/coronavirus-covid-19-albertcamus-the-plague
Luthans, F. (2002). The need for and meaning of positive organizational behavior. Journal of Organizational
Behavior, 23(6), 695–706. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.165
Vulliamy, E. (2015). Albert Camus’ The Plague: A story for our, and all, times. https://www.theguardian.com/books/
booksblog/2015/jan/05/albert-camus-the-plague-fascist-death-ed-vulliamy
Warner, M. (2003). To be a man. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/apr/26/classics.albertcamus
Michael A. Peters
Beijing Normal University
mpeters@bnu.edu.cn