A Democratic Conception of Privacy

Is privacy a threat to sexual equality, social solidarity, and democratic government? Is privacy valuable only if we live in tyrannical regimes or have shameful secrets to hide? Th e answer to these questions, this book maintains, is “no” because there are many forms of privacy that are essential to democratic government and to the types of freedom, equality, solidarity, and individuality that distinguish democratic from undemocratic societies. With chapters on privacy and equality, the value of privacy and on privacy and abortion, this book provides an introduction to philosophical debates on privacy and off ers a distinctive way to think about them.