Essentiality and Responsibility in Times of Crises Anthropodicy beyond the Limits of Reason Alone

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed global dependency on essential workers and the susceptibility of social dynamics. Essentiality is a haunting primordial issue because it is still defined by socio-economic functions rather than people’s worth as human beings. For Marx, Feuerbach’s concept of homo deus is an inversion of Christian anthropology which ends as a mere ‘theological nicety’. In response to Marx, I hold that religion is an efficient ideology that transcends abstraction. The current crisis shows that religion’s problem lies elsewhere: it can be counterproductive to social causes and hardly fit inside the limits of reason. Elaborating Lévinas’s concern over theodicy, I appeal to anthropodicy as an impetus for religious ideology to embrace vulnerability and nurture solidarity. After Lévinas, I reinterpret essentiality as a responsibility that surpasses our rationality. With the alignment of essentiality and responsibility, anthropodicy can support religious ideology to welcome the vulnerable others and encourage social responsibility.