Secrets
On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation
Published on 16. March 2011
352 pages
978-0-307-76172-9 (ISBN)
Description
The author of Lying shows how the ethical issues raised by secrets and secrecy in our careers or private lives take us to the heart of the critical questions of private and public morality.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
12/1989
Vintage Books
€19.20
Article exhausted; check different version
Person
Sissela Bok is a senior visiting fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. Previously, she was a professor of philosophy at Brandeis Univeristy. She is the author of Lying: Moral Choice in Private and Public Life; Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation; A Strategy for Peace: Human Values and the Threat of War; Alva Myrdal: A Daughter's Memoir; Mayhem: Violence as Public Entertainment; Common Values; and Exploring Happiness: From Aristotle to Brain Science. A former member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, Bok is a fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
Content
- Intro
- Other Books by This Author
- Title Page
- Permissions Acknowledgments
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Introduction
- Chapter I - Approaches to Secrecy
- The Gift of Pandora
- Defining Secrecy
- The Secret and the Unknown
- Secrecy and Privacy
- Chapter II - Secrecy and Moral Choice
- A Thought-Experiment
- The Need for Secrecy
- The Dangers of Secrecy
- Moral Considerations
- Chapter III - Coming to Experience Secrecy and Openness
- The Self Among Others
- Confronting Secrets From the Outside
- Having Secrets
- Discretion and Moral Judgment
- Chapter IV - Secret Societies
- Groups Sworn to Secrecy
- Initiation
- Blind Obedience
- Chapter V - Secrecy and Self-Deception
- Misleading Oneself
- Attributing Self-Deception
- The Plea of Self-imposed Ignorance
- Ignorance, Error, Bias, and Avoidance
- Chapter VI - Confessions
- The Act of Confessing
- The Listener
- The Revealer
- Revealing the Secrets of Others
- Chapter VII - Gossip
- Definitions
- Reprehensible Gossip
- Trivializing Gossip
- Chapter VIII - Secrecy, Power, and Accountability
- The Shared Predicament
- Power and Secrecy
- Individual and Collective Secrecy
- Publicity
- Chapter IX - The Limits of Confidentiality
- The Professional Secret
- Justification and Rationale
- Individual Clients and Their Secrets
- Secrecy as a Shield
- Chapter X - Trade and Corporate Secrecy
- Protection Against Betrayal and Theft
- Borrowed Finery
- The Scope of Corporate Secrecy
- Chapter XI - Secrecy and Competition in Science
- Rituals of Openness
- Temporary Protection of Ongoing Research
- Secrecy and the Results of Research
- Chapter XII - Secrets of State
- Reason of State
- Administrative Secrecy
- Negotiations
- Disinformation
- Chapter XIII - Military Secrecy
- Confounding One's Enemies
- Self-Defeating Military Secrecy
- Secrecy, Power, and Transformation
- The Role of Public Debate
- The Pentagon Papers
- Chapter XIV - Whistleblowing and Leaks
- Revelation from Within
- Blowing the Whistle
- The Leak
- Individual Moral Choice
- Organizational Change and Social Policy
- Chapter XV - Intrusive Social Science Research
- A Prophecy for Social Science
- Sharing the Wait for the End of the World
- To See Through and to Unmask
- Restraints
- Combating Corruption Through Research
- Chapter XVI - Investigative Journalism
- Limits to Probing?
- Exposing Private Lives
- The Public's Right to Know
- Reporters in Disguise
- Chapter XVII - Undercover Police Operations
- Secrecy in Police Work
- The ABSCAM Investigations
- The Rationale for Undercover Investigation of White-Collar Crime
- Limits and Alternatives
- Chapter XVIII - Conclusion
- Notes
- About the Author
- Copyright
