The Legal Concept of Person in Times of Pandemic

Abstract

The legal concept of person is considered fundamental in Philosophy of Law. The usual definition implies that it is an imputation center for legal duties and rights. It is etymologically and metaphorically related to the ancient theater masks. Although the definition seems to be abstract and universal, the metaphor behind it complements the meaning showing that it is a dynamic concept according to time and space. The pandemic context has been challenging and has forced new regulations and interpretations of this concept. Here I aim to analyze some challenges to the concept in Argentina.This paper points out that the traditional concept of person has come into crisis and that debating about it is a Philosophy of Law task. The presentation will analyze the following thesis:1)The image of the person has changed. The regulation of how a person should show himself/herself in certain spheres requires normally leaving the face uncovered (for example, let’s think of a picture for an ID such as a Visa). Nowadays it is mandatory to wear a facemask to cover the nose and mouth.2)The relations of the person have changed. Nowadays every individual is a risk to others, social distance is a protecting measure, greetings have been replaced by an elbow bump and two meters is a barrier between persons.3)Persons have become categorized and ranked in new ways with different effects. For example, elderly people, which used to be a category that already existed, now might create a priority on the vaccination process but, in some cases, it has brought up some special limitations (for example, the burden of asking for a special authorization to go out in cases in which other people could leave their homes). Another case is the one of the “essential persons”, usually related to public services but specially to health services. In this case, the category implies that not every person is equal to others in rights and duties.4)Plurality and constantly changing norms have constituted anomic persons. The regulations of the emergency context and the speed of new regulations towards a new normality that comes and goes has provoked legal uncertainty and individuals that are unclear about what to expect from their actions in the legal sphere.