ABSTRACT
This introduction situates the essays in this volume in the debate about the role of humanities and social sciences in policy formation and implementation. It argues that the marginalisation of these areas of knowledge during the global response to the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was not only the outcome of longer-term trends in the politics of knowledge production and consumption—such as the false dichotomy between “pure” and “applied” knowledge and the dominance of “hard” sciences—but also of an intellectual paralysis triggered by the crisis. Using Kant’s concept of “disorientation” and his proposed antidote of the “public use of reason”, we argue for the need to consider diverse interpretations, contexts, and paradigms when examining the policy response, in line with Gadamer’s insight into the perspectival nature of knowledge. To this end, we set out the book’s editorial philosophy, which emphasises intellectual diversity, interdisciplinarity, geographical inclusion, and timeliness as ways of furthering the social impact of social science and humanities knowledge.
