Face and hands of Covid-19: a taste of dystopia

Abstract

Looking at the pandemic experience from a philosophical perspective, this article focuses on the different forms of sensory deprivation that have affected our sensory experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. It explores the limitations on physical contact, and especially emotional contact, due to fear of infection; the impact of the use of a mask on the perception of the other’s identity, on interpersonal communication and on the experience of breathing, and finally, the effects of physical distancing as a reaffirmation of pre-existing forms of social distancing. These different forms of sensory deprivation are presented as a warning or taste of a dystopian social existence that forces us to reflect profoundly on their antecedents and on the ways in which we may avoid a future catastrophe of still unimaginable scope.