Secrets : On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation

Approaches to secrecy -- Secrecy and moral choice -- Coming to experience secrecy and openness -- Secret societies -- Secrecy and self-deception -- Confessions -- Gossip -- Secrecy, power, and accountability -- Limits of confidentiality -- Trade and corporate secrecy -- Secrecy and competition in science -- Secrets of state -- Military secrecy -- Whistleblowing adn leaking -- Intrusive social science research -- Investigative journalism -- Undercover police operations -- Conclusion -- Notes.;We live in a society where almost every person and institution has closely guarded secrets. What kind of moral issues do these raise for individuals and for society? Under what circumstances is it wrong to pry into secrets? Are there times when a promise of secrecy must be broken? What about journalists' protection of sources, government suppression of information, covert police activity, scientific secrecy? [In this book, the author] investigates these and other questions as they arise in family life, with friends, at work, in public affairs and in special circumstances like the confessional or psychotherapy.-Back cover. 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. From the Trade Paperback edition. The author of Lying s hows 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.