In defence of fear: COVID-19, crises, and democracy

The COVID-19 crisis served, not just to instil fear in the populace, but to highlight the importance of fear as a motivating dynamic in politics. The gradual emergence of political philosophical approaches calling for concern for “positive” emotions may have made sense under non-pandemic conditions. Now, however, describing fear in the face of a deadly pandemic as “irrational” or born of “ignorance” seems “irrational” and “ignorant.” This chapter draws upon the work of John Gray and behavioural science to present a defence of fear. It shows how the pandemic has highlighted deficits in the work of four thinkers highly critical of fear: Martha Nussbaum, Zygmunt Bauman, Hannah Arendt and Sarah Ahmed. It is argued that, if such approaches are to be of value in anything other than optimal conditions, then they have to acknowledge the fundamental role of fear in helping human beings to pursue fundamental interests.