Privacy, separation and control

Stephen Matthews

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    11 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Defining privacy is problematic because the condition of privacy appears simultaneously to require separation from others, and the possibility of choosing not to be separate. This latter feature expresses the inherent normative dimension of privacy: the capacity to control the perceptual and informational spaces surrounding one's person. Clearly the features of separation and control as just described are in tension because one may easily enough choose to give up all barriers between oneself and the public space. How could the capacity for privacy give rise to its absence? Yet both the separation and control features of privacy do seem indispensable to any sensible understanding of it. In this paper I set out an approach to defining privacy that keeps these features and avoids the tension between them.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)130-150
    Number of pages21
    JournalThe Monist
    Volume91
    Issue number1
    Publication statusPublished - 2008

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