Thinking in a Pandemic : Science and Policy

Leading scientists, epidemiologists, and philosophers explore the unfolding Covid-19 pandemic and argue for the necessity of scientific reasoning and collective responsibility.

We are living in the midst of the greatest public health crisis of our time. Confronting the many challenges of this moment--from the medical to the economic, the social to the political--demands all the moral and deliberative clarity we can muster. Bringing together coverage of the unfolding pandemic from the critically acclaimed Boston Review, this collection explores the history and social legacies of pandemics, explores the place of science in popular culture and policy-making, and interrogates the ways in which science and health have been politicized.

Thinking in a Pandemic collects the latest arguments from doctors and epidemiologists, philosophers and economists, legal scholars and historians, activists and citizens, as they think not just through this moment but beyond it.
While much remains uncertain, our responsibility to public reason is sure. Now, more than ever, we affirm the power of collective reasoning and imagination to create a healthier and more just world.


Contributors: Marc Lipsitch, Natalie Dean, Trisha Greenhalgh, John P. A. Ioannidis, Alex de Waal, Jeremy A. Greene, Dora Vargha, Jonathan Fuller, Jonathan White, Sarah Burgard, Lucie Kalousova, Cailin O'Connor, James Owen Weatherall, Amy Moran-Thomas.

Boston Review is an independent and nonprofit public space for robust discussion of ideas and culture. Animated by hope and committed to equality, we believe in the power of collective reasoning and imagination to create a more just world.