Journal for Christian reflections in the context of social sciences and humanities

Caritas et veritas 2022, 12(1):97-107 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2022.008

The Role of Volunteerism and Buddhist Ethics for the Covid-19 Pandemic Response in Thailand

Soraj Hongladarom1, Daniel D. Novotný2
1 Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Philosophy, 254 Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330 Thailand
2 Jihočeská univerzita, Teologická fakulta, Katedra filosofi e a religionistiky, Kněžská 8, 370 01 České Budějovice

Thailand was the first country outside of China where a case of COVID-19 was found when a tourist entered the country from China in February 2020. Still, as of now, the overall mortality there from Covid-19 remains much lower than in most other countries. What are the factors of this success? In this paper, we focus on the role of volunteerism and argue that its seamless integration into the Thai public health care system is founded upon the predominantly Buddhist religious culture in the country and corresponds to the cultivation of Buddhist virtues, such as compassion (karuṇā), and the motivation to do/make merit (tham bun). We suggest that Buddhist ethics and its habituation constitutes the key factor that underlies the coun try’s strong volunteer culture. We address our topic by surveying the existing literature and conducting semi-structured interviews with seven health volunteers in May and June 2022. We deal with the possible objection that Theravāda Buddhism practised in Thailand is an individualistic religion and a rather negative motivating factor for volunteerism and efficient pandemic response.

Keywords: Thailand, Covid-19, public health, virtue ethics, Buddhism, karuṇā, merit

Accepted: March 16, 2022; Published: December 9, 2022  Show citation

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Hongladarom, S., & Novotný, D.D. (2022). The Role of Volunteerism and Buddhist Ethics for the Covid-19 Pandemic Response in Thailand. Caritas et veritas, 12(1), 97-107. doi: 10.32725/cetv.2022.008
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