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What can a global crisis reveal about the deep structures of our societies, institutions, and ways of thinking? Pandemic Perspectives offers a unique and reflective window into the COVID-19 pandemic—not merely as a public health emergency, but as a far-reaching societal stress test that exposed long-standing tensions and prompted fresh philosophical, political, and scientific reflection. Filmed remotely with the help of local crews across the globe during the second half of 2021, this documentary brings together a remarkable cross-section of 32 international experts—spanning biology, education, history, law, philosophy, politics, psychology, neuroscience, public health, and more. Each voice contributes a distinct disciplinary lens to the unfolding story of how the pandemic challenged our norms, tested our systems, and forced a reckoning with the values underpinning modern life. Rather than presenting a uniform narrative, Pandemic Perspectives embraces the complexity of the moment. Legal scholars reflect on the tension between personal liberty and collective responsibility. Historians contextualize our responses within the long arc of previous pandemics. Psychologists explore the cognitive and emotional toll of prolonged uncertainty and social isolation. Educators examine how online learning reshaped pedagogy. Philosophers and political theorists question how the pandemic exposed fault lines in our democracies, economies, and ethical frameworks. Notable contributors include: - Elizabeth Anderson on public philosophy and social justice - Patricia Churchland on neurobiology and moral decision-making - Roy Baumeister on the psychological effects of isolation and self-regulation - Michael Berry on China's cultural response to the crisis - Lorraine Daston on the role of scientific authority - Philip Kitcher on ethical pluralism during crises - Stephen Kosslyn and Yong Zhao on education in a post-pandemic world - Miguel Nicolelis and Stephen Scherer on neuroscience and biomedical challenges - Gavin Yamey and Richard Frank on public health systems and global equity And many more leading thinkers from institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, the OECD, and the Portuguese Parliament. At once deeply intellectual and strikingly human, Pandemic Perspectives invites viewers to step back and consider what the pandemic has revealed about who we are, how we are governed, how we relate to science, and how we might imagine more resilient and equitable futures. It is a time capsule of global expertise at a moment of rupture—an archive of insight, caution, and hope from those committed to understanding the world as it is, and as it could be. The 32 eminent experts who feature in this documentary Pandemic Perspectives: - Elizabeth Anderson, Max Shaye Professor of Public Philosophy, University of Michigan - Ann-Sophie Barwich, Assistant Professor of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine, Indiana University Bloomington - Roy Baumeister, Professor of Psychology, University of Queensland - Michael Berry, Professor of Contemporary Chinese Cultural Studies, UCLA - Christopher Celenza, James B. Knapp Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University - Patricia Churchland, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, UC San Diego - Lorraine Daston, Director Emerita of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin - John Dunn, Emeritus Professor of Political Thought, University of Cambridge - John Dupré, Professor of Philosophy and Director of Egenis, University of Exeter - Charles Foster, Professor of Law and Fellow of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford - Richard Frank, Director of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy; Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; Professor of Health Economics at Harvard Medical School - Michael Frazer, Associate Professor in Political and Social Theory, University of East Anglia - Michael Gordin, Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, Princeton University - Joanna Haigh, Professor of Physics, Imperial College London - Brian Hie, Stanford Science Fellow, Stanford University School of Medicine - Andy Hoffman, Holcim (US), Inc. Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, University of Michigan - Rush Holt, Former US Congressman, Current Director’s Visitor, Institute for Advanced Study - Martin Jay, Ehrman Professor of European History Emeritus, UC Berkeley - Paul Kahn, Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities and Director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr . Center for International Human Rights, Yale University - Philip Kitcher, John Dewey Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Columbia University - Fyodor Kondrashov, Professor of Evolutionary Genomics, Institute of Science and Technology, Austria - Stephen Kosslyn, President, Active Learning Sciences; Founder and CAO Foundry College; Founding - - - Dean Minerva Schools; Former Dean of Social Sciences Harvard University - Darrin McMahon, Mary Brinsmead Wheelock Professor of History, Dartmouth College - Samuel Moyn, Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence, Yale University - Miguel Nicolelis, Professor in Neuroscience, Duke University - Caroline Paunov, Senior Economist and Head of Secretariat for the Working Party on Innovation and Technology Policy, OECD - Alexandre Quintanilha, Member of Portuguese Parliament; Former Director of the Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, University of Porto - Teofilo Ruiz, Distinguished Research Professor of History, UCLA - Stephen Scherer, Chief of Research at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto - John Tregoning, Reader in Respiratory Infections, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College - Gavin Yamey, Director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University - Yong Zhao, Foundation Distinguished Professor in the School of Education, University of Kansas & Professor in Educational Leadership, Melbourne Graduate School of Education