Document Type : Research Paper

Author

• Hassan Khosravi

Associate Professor, Department of Public Law, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

 Today, collective living and mutual needs form the basis of human life, and maintaining its balance requires cooperation in the world. Therefore, man alone will not be able to solve the challenges of his elders. With the spread of coronavirus, or Covid-19, as a "global epidemic", mutual cooperation and altruism have become more important, and disease control, treatment of patients and coverage of the needs of victims and the human rights need a necessary basis to protect the human rights. The main purpose of this paper is to justify this requirement on the basis of Kant's deontological ethics with a descriptive-analytical approach. The results of the study show that many people are exposed to harm as a result of Covid-19, and deontological ethics according to the categorical imperative, moral agency, self-founded wisdom, and good and free will can be the source of a moral movement toward others support against the disease. A person characterized by this ethics, in helping other people only pays attention to the principle of moral action "supporting the other", so incomplete neutrality, justice, equality, non-discrimination and without interfering with sensory consciousness, helps all individuals as the needy, the injured, the infected and the sick. 

Highlights

Introduction

Man is inevitable and incapable of dealing with natural and unnatural disasters, and he needs social and legal mechanisms of protection and protection. However, the requirement of others to support vulnerable people requires philosophical and legal justification, and the basis of this requirement is rooted in various fields of the humanities. Support for the global pandemic of Covid-19. In the moral philosophy, reasonable justifications and foundations for moral action in practice and criteria for the correctness or incorrectness of behavior are prescribed and the basis for the correctness of one's moral behavior in doing or not doing the behavior. The main goal of his research is to justify the role of deontological ethics in protecting the fundamental human rights of all-inclusive events and diseases such as Covid-19 with a descriptive-analytical approach.

Covid-19 (Coronavirus)

Covid-19 is an infectious disease caused by coronavirus that usually causes fever, fatigue, muscle aches and coughs, and can also cause breathing problems. Most of the time, the disease is not serious, but it can lead to serious illness in some people. The disease was first discovered in Wuhan, China, and soon spread around the world, which the World Health Organization (WHO) referred to on March 11, 2020, as a "global pandemic."

The protection principle of human rights at risk of coronavirus

Coronavirus disease can seriously damage the rights and freedoms of individuals in the private and public spheres in a variety of ways, and it will certainly cause risks and problems, and solving them in the short and long term requires material and spiritual support and compensation. It affects many rights, freedoms and physical and mental health, so the lack of proper support for people at risk of Coronavirus disease or a variety of unpleasant events can be devastating on society. The need for broad, equal, impartial, non-discriminatory, universal, and inclusive support is essential for all vulnerable individuals. But the principle of the need for protection, how it can become a moral imperative and an internal duty of universal law, needs to be addressed.

Kant's deontological ethics foundations

The general outline of Kant's theory of deontological ethics is as follows:

«1. Paying attention to the intention and motivation of the agent (moral agency) and interfering in the moral value of the action;

2. Knowing the nature of the right and wrong attributes for actions and not including the results in the rightness or wrongness of actions;

3. To consider practical reason as the foundation of moral rules;

4. Determining moral duties by referring to the Categorical Imperative.

The Effects of Conscientious Ethics in Protecting Human Rights against Covid-19

to analyze the proposition "the need to protect human rights against the pervasive disease of covid-19", on the basis of Kant's deontological ethics, it should be noted that Kant's deontological ethics, if institutionalized, provides a kind of uniform ethics and behavior in most citizens who will have the same judgment on the basis of ethical propositions and correct behavior based on public duty and practice. The need to act on the task ensures the principle of impartiality in motivation and behavior and non-discrimination in practice; because the act of duty and according to the law of the Categorical Imperative, in practice, all behaviors and motives will appear impartially.

A- Legal and organizational support measures of the government:

The government's efforts to manage the widespread coronavirus disease are largely regulated by legal and managerial rules, but the implementation of those rules in practice is linked to ethical rules. Now, by combining Kant's rules of law and morality in the face of this disease, the following tasks can be imagined for the government:

1- Establishing rules and regulations and strategic policies 2- Adopting and announcing disease prevention, control and treatment policies 3- Announcing the state of emergency and quarantine 4- Communicating health and care instructions 5- Establishing a crisis management headquarters

6- Establishment of desirable medical and health centers 7- Establishment of identification and information bases 8- Establishing order, security, peace, and stability of the society 9- Supporting and guaranteeing human rights 10- Strengthening responsibility 11- Applying fair trial to violators of laws and human rights.

B- Moral support measures for the government and the people:

In times of crisis and epidemics, the rights of individuals are affected, but with the management of the government and the people based on the rules of duty ethics, the following rights can be regulated and protected:

 1- The right to public health 2- The right to treatment 3- The right to mental health 4- The right to privacy 4- The right to education 5- The right to housing 7- The right to food and water 8- The right to employment and income 9- The right to care for certain people 10- The right to equal and non-discriminatory behavior 11- The right to freedom of expression and opinion 12. The right to access to information and news.

Conclusion

In order to institutionalize "the proposition of the obligation to protect the human rights of individuals against Covid-19" in the context of Kant's deontological ethics, it is concluded that this theory transforms the principle of protection into an internal duty and moral obligation of every human being with reason. And his free will, without outside interference and factor, with a cohesive and altruistic approach, with understanding his goodwill and inner voice, responds to the needy exposed to coronavirus disease and without thinking about the outcome and benefit. Slowly, as practical action, help, and assistance to others, and in this regard, the ethical person of the task-oriented, according to the principles of Kantian ethics, when supporting and helping the needy, only pay attention to the nature and human dignity of human beings. Out of moral rationality, he does not involve any love or hatred or sensory adaptations, so he helps his fellow human beings all over the world to eliminate the effects of coronavirus in complete neutrality and in accordance with the Categorical Imperative and without any discrimination. 

Keywords

• Coronavirus
• Covid-19
• Principle of Protection
• Human Rights
• Kant's Deontological Ethics