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19 Privacy and/in the Public Sphere

  • Beate Roessler
Published/Copyright: July 27, 2016
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Yearbook for Eastern and Western Philosophy
From the journal Yearbook for Eastern and Western Philosophy Volume 2016 Issue 1

Abstract

Talking about privacy in the public prima facie seems to be a contradiction: why should privacy have to play a role within the public sphere? What could possibly be private in the public? However, quite a number of theories of privacy conceptualize privacy as a protective shield which we carry with us wherever we are: respect for privacy in public then means, for instance, not listening in on private conversations between friends on the street or in a cafe. The most important form of privacy in public, however, which has gained a lot of attention during the last decade or so, is privacy as anonymity: the form of privacy in the public sphere, online as well as offline, which means invisibility, nontraceability, not being identifiable as an individual person. Theories of privacy differ as to the possibility as well as to the desirabilty of anonymity in public contexts, online as well as offline.

In my paper, I investigate the complicated relations between privacy, anonymity, and the public sphere. I will, firstly, clarify the conceptual relation between privacy and anonymity, drawing on theories which define privacy in terms of (contextually varying) conditions enabling individual freedom and autonomy. I will also review some normatively relevant differences between the online and the offline world. In the second part, I will discuss possible normative conflicts between a moral or legal right to privacy and anonymity, and considerations of security, accountability, or moral responsibility. One of the important questions will concern the ethical consequences of the technical possibilities of identification and de-anonymization in the online world.

Published Online: 2016-7-27
Published in Print: 2016-7-25

© 2016 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. Editorial Preface
  3. Contents
  4. 1 Preface
  5. 2 The Current Situation of Chinese Philosophy: Problems and Tasks
  6. 3 Chinese Philosophy – Philosophy in China
  7. I Public Sphere and Globalization
  8. 4 The Publicity of Reason(ing)
  9. 5 Digitalization: Another Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere?
  10. II Fundamental Philosophical Questions in Public Sphere
  11. 6 Pluralism, Autonomy and Public Deliberation
  12. 7 Kant on the Public Sphere and Some Reflections on Hannah Arendt and the Contemporary Intercultural Discussion
  13. 8 The Public Sphere and the Faculty of Judgment: Hannah Arendt’s Theses on Public Opinion
  14. 9 On Political Freedom in Public Sphere in View of the Contrast Between Téchne and Túche – A Comparison Between Arendt and Heidegger
  15. 10 Habermas on Instrumental Reasoning in Public Sphere
  16. III Public Sphere and Ethics
  17. 11 Republicity
  18. 12 Changing the Imperial Mindset
  19. 13 Communicative Power and the Public Sphere
  20. IV The Problem of Public Sphere in Asian Cultures
  21. 14 Public Sphere and Open Society from the Perspective of Axial Age China
  22. 15 How to Jointly Decide What Ought to Be Done?
  23. 16 The Confucian Concept of “Cheng” (Integrity) in Relation to Publicity and Justice
  24. V Public Sphere and Democracy
  25. 17 National and International Public Spheres and the Protection of Human Rights
  26. 18 International Justice and the Limit of Public Reason
  27. 19 Privacy and/in the Public Sphere
  28. 20 Context, Perspective and Research Method: Several Problems of the Research on Publicness
  29. VI Publicity and Justice
  30. 21 Origins of Justice Theory in China and West
  31. 22 Representation, Political and Juridical
  32. 23 Tolerance and the Legitimacy of Law
  33. 24 Justice, Primary Goods and Public Reason
  34. 25 The Ethics of Whistleblowing
  35. 26 Practical Wisdom in Confucian Philosophy
  36. 27 The Challenges of Cognitive Science to Philosophy
  37. 28 On “Intentionality” and “Meta- Intentionality” in Eastern and Western Philosophies of Consciousness
  38. 29 Marx’s Theory of the Historical Path and its Commitment to Concretization
  39. 30 Characteristics of Chinese Philosophy and the Chinese National Spirit
  40. 31 Utopisches Denken in der Chinesischen Gegenwartsphilosophie
  41. Bio-Bibliography
  42. Name Index
https://doi.org/10.1515/yewph-2016-0021

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. Editorial Preface
  3. Contents
  4. 1 Preface
  5. 2 The Current Situation of Chinese Philosophy: Problems and Tasks
  6. 3 Chinese Philosophy – Philosophy in China
  7. I Public Sphere and Globalization
  8. 4 The Publicity of Reason(ing)
  9. 5 Digitalization: Another Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere?
  10. II Fundamental Philosophical Questions in Public Sphere
  11. 6 Pluralism, Autonomy and Public Deliberation
  12. 7 Kant on the Public Sphere and Some Reflections on Hannah Arendt and the Contemporary Intercultural Discussion
  13. 8 The Public Sphere and the Faculty of Judgment: Hannah Arendt’s Theses on Public Opinion
  14. 9 On Political Freedom in Public Sphere in View of the Contrast Between Téchne and Túche – A Comparison Between Arendt and Heidegger
  15. 10 Habermas on Instrumental Reasoning in Public Sphere
  16. III Public Sphere and Ethics
  17. 11 Republicity
  18. 12 Changing the Imperial Mindset
  19. 13 Communicative Power and the Public Sphere
  20. IV The Problem of Public Sphere in Asian Cultures
  21. 14 Public Sphere and Open Society from the Perspective of Axial Age China
  22. 15 How to Jointly Decide What Ought to Be Done?
  23. 16 The Confucian Concept of “Cheng” (Integrity) in Relation to Publicity and Justice
  24. V Public Sphere and Democracy
  25. 17 National and International Public Spheres and the Protection of Human Rights
  26. 18 International Justice and the Limit of Public Reason
  27. 19 Privacy and/in the Public Sphere
  28. 20 Context, Perspective and Research Method: Several Problems of the Research on Publicness
  29. VI Publicity and Justice
  30. 21 Origins of Justice Theory in China and West
  31. 22 Representation, Political and Juridical
  32. 23 Tolerance and the Legitimacy of Law
  33. 24 Justice, Primary Goods and Public Reason
  34. 25 The Ethics of Whistleblowing
  35. 26 Practical Wisdom in Confucian Philosophy
  36. 27 The Challenges of Cognitive Science to Philosophy
  37. 28 On “Intentionality” and “Meta- Intentionality” in Eastern and Western Philosophies of Consciousness
  38. 29 Marx’s Theory of the Historical Path and its Commitment to Concretization
  39. 30 Characteristics of Chinese Philosophy and the Chinese National Spirit
  40. 31 Utopisches Denken in der Chinesischen Gegenwartsphilosophie
  41. Bio-Bibliography
  42. Name Index
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