Will this universal threat give birth to global solidarity – or will barbarian capitalism bloom?

Philosopher Slavoj​ Zizek has been mocked for his optimistic assumption that the virus will boost cooperation and coordination. He also admits there is an alternative scenario, in which things will get a whole lot worse, writes Andy Martin

We've never been closer or further apart (EPA)

The sky is bluer and toxic emissions are way down. And you finally got round to doing those DIY jobs. Is there anything else by way of a coronavirus silver lining? Slavoj Zizek thinks there is. For one thing, those sailing “obscenities” known as cruiseships have taken a titanic hit (he was never a fan) and Disneyland (“a boring and stupid place”) has become a ghost town. But more importantly, Covid-19 should, in theory, enable us to think more deeply about our lives than we have done before.

Zizek, a Slovenian philosopher who is also international director at Birkbeck College in London, believes we are likely to become more philosophical with mortality stalking us relentlessly. Dr Johnson likewise thought that the prospect of being hanged in a fortnight would “concentrate the mind wonderfully”. Plato, at the dawn of western philosophy, went one step further and maintained that the serious philosopher really had to die to attain enlightenment and the elusive realm of the truth. Socrates, his teacher, for one, did not shy away from knocking back the hemlock.

But in the brief time we have left, while awaiting the inevitable, we don’t have to watch Netflix (Zizek recommends Icelandic noir), we can still cogitate, perhaps with greater lucidity than before. And perhaps with a degree of remorse, as we see our past lives unreel before our mind’s eye. “Maybe,” Zizek suggests, “some British people will gather the courage to feel shame about falling for the ideological dream that brought them Brexit.” It’s a stretch, but it’s possible to imagine Boris Johnson lying in bed with oxygen being pumped into him, surrounded by nurses who lack PPE, and saying to himself: “What have I done?!” Similarly Zizek anticipates that some Israelis will feel bad about Netanyahu and Trump (but then many already do).