Defending the selective restriction of liberty during pandemics

Thinking Out Loud: leading philosophers discuss topical global issues

Katrien Devolder and Julian Savulescu discuss the ethics of lockdowns Should lockdowns and other restrictions of liberty during pandemics be imposed on part of the population only? Many people accept that, to protect public health, it is sometimes acceptable, or morally obligatory, to restrict people’s liberties. But there’s a lot of disagreement about how far these restrictions should go, and whom they should apply to: everyone, or certain groups of people only? In this Thinking out Loud interview, Professor Julian Savulescu (Uehiro Chair of Practical Ethics, University of Oxford) defends the view that we should only restrict the liberties of the vulnerable during the Covid-19 pandemic.