Abstract

Emotions elicited by the threat of the coronavirus and social distancing measures are usually characterized in a negative way in the literature about the pandemic. This paper argues that this is not true for all emotions. Based on philosophical and empirical studies of loneliness, I contend that transient feelings of loneliness felt during the pandemic contribute to epistemically recognize what is significant or important to us in terms of social connection and fulfillment. Part of my argument depends on conceiving loneliness not only as an episodic “inner” emotion but rather as a pervasive emotion that involves psychic and bodily feelings, especially those related to how we apprehend the spatiality of the world. Finally, I also claim that the structure and content of loneliness help to explain why the pandemic should be seen as an epistemic transformative experience.