Virtue as a response to pandemic and crisis

One response to the coronavirus pandemic has been for educators, public health experts and politicians to emphasise the importance of empathy, compassion, care, or similar human qualities in tackling the crisis. We explore these claims philosophically in regard to education. What moral attributes are relevant to a crisis such as a pandemic? How should they be conceptualised? And, how may they be cultivated? We argue that conceptions of education that aim to promote virtue could make a valuable contribution in responding to global crises. However, revision is needed to ensure that any appeal to virtue also adequately considers issues of social justice. We begin our discussion by offering a critique of the 'turn to character' – a heterogenous and wide-ranging movement in public policy and the academy that had considerable impact on educational discourse prior to the pandemic. We then consider how character education may be reconceptualised to address issues of collective action and social justice that inevitably arise from crises such as the pandemic. We conclude virtue is an appropriate response to pandemic, but only insofar as virtues are understood reciprocally and inherently related to practices that are mutually beneficial, as opposed to being conceptualised primarily as the traits of individuals.