For an Epistemology of the Pandemic

As, during the last days of February 2020, Italy went into lockdown and the numbers of infected rose, with hospitals sorely overburdened, intensive care units facing the ethical tragedies that emergency medicine involves and army trucks transported the coffins of Bergamo to who knows where, several of us had the feeling that people were not understanding what was,really. going on. On the one hand they were seriously worried about the ineffective treatments that were all doctors were able to offer, notwithstanding a level of absolute personal dedication that often pushed them to sacrifice their own lives. On the other they were unsettled by the discordant voices of the many new figures who invaded the media in their capacities as,experts. on public health or on scientific and medical matters of which most know nothing. Above all they were disconcerted by the inadequate media response to the problematic nature of the crisis no less than to its multiple implications and ramifications. So it was that the idea of creating a multimedia course on "The Epistemology of the Pandemic" emerged and, between 24th march and 11th April, became a reality. What we now propose is a synthesis which renders the spirit, that generated and sustained that experience and determined its didactic and epistemic design.