Public/Private

by Paul Fairfield

Overview

As impressions grow that privacy is under increasing threat, the sphere of private life has needed to reassert itself, yet efforts to this end are beset with numerous difficulties, including the ways in which the private sphere has for centuries been understood and misunderstood. While Public/Private takes up a broadly liberal perspective, it endeavors to reach beyond an audience of liberal theorists to include other political orientations and philosophical traditions. Fairfield examines the ethical-political significance as well as the policy implications of a right to privacy. Discussing the different applications of privacy laws, technology, property, relationships, Fairfield writes in a style accessible to specialists and students alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742549586
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/20/2005
Edition description:	ANN
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.37(d)

About the Author

Paul Fairfield is assistant adjunct professor in the Department of Philosophy, Queens University, Canada.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Negotiating a Distinction
Chapter 2 The Public/Private Dichotomy and its Critics
Chapter 3 Why Privacy?
Chapter 4 Definitions and Issues
Part 5 Privacy in an Age of Information
Chapter 6 The Emergence of a Problem
Chapter 7 Technology, Information, and Power
Chapter 8 Principles
Chapter 9 Privacy and Medical Records
Part 10 Political Philosophy in the Bedroom
Chapter 11 Political Moralism
Chapter 12 Privacy and Intimate Relations
Chapter 13 Civil Rights and Sexual Orientation
Chapter 14 Same-Sex Marriage
Chapter 15 Which Family? Whose Values?
Part 16 Property and the Private Sphere
Chapter 17 Domicile
Chapter 18 Property Rights and Agency
Chapter 19 Moral Spaces
Chapter 20 Intellectual Property Rights
Part 21 Revelation

What People are Saying About This

Tom Rockmore

Paul Fairfield provides a multidimensional analysis of the venerable distinction between the public and the private. His skillful defense of the right of privacy is thoughtful, well-informed, and well-argued in this important book.

Editorial Reviews

With a seldom achieved compelling clarity, Paul Fairfield's straightforward account of the distinction between the public and the private demonstrates for all to see how it is possible to keep the distinction within the conversation of humankind without having it solidify into an ideologically charged dichotomy. The contribution of Fairfield's analysis to an understanding of the role of privacy rights in the realm of public policy extends across the disciplines of philosophy, political theory, psychology, and religion.

Calvin O. Schrag

The debate over the proper relation between the public and the private spheres of life has a long and complex history and is today at the heart of a number of heated debates. Paul Fairfield's clearly written and well-argued book, Public/Private, is an important and welcome addition to the literature on the subject. Through his historically informed and refreshingly sober analysis of the many complex issues surrounding the public/private controversy in today's world, Fairfield has managed to set out a well-articulated, well-balanced, and much needed defense of the moral right to personal privacy—to difference, plurality, and self-realization—in an age when everything seems to conspire against it.

G.B. Madison

Paul Fairfield provides a multidimensional analysis of the venerable distinction between the public and the private. His skillful defense of the right of privacy is thoughtful, well-informed, and well-argued in this important book.

Tom Rockmore

With a seldom achieved compelling clarity, Paul Fairfield's straightforward account of the distinction between the public and the private demonstrates for all to see how it is possible to keep the distinction within the conversation of humankind without having it solidify into an ideologically charged dichotomy. The contribution of Fairfield's analysis to an understanding of the role of privacy rights in the realm of public policy extends across the disciplines of philosophy, political theory, psychology, and religion.--Calvin O. Schrag, Purdue University

Paul Fairfield provides a multidimensional analysis of the venerable distinction between the public and the private. His skillful defense of the right of privacy is thoughtful, well-informed, and well-argued in this important book.--Tom Rockmore, Duquesne University

The debate over the proper relation between the public and the private spheres of life has a long and complex history and is today at the heart of a number of heated debates. Paul Fairfield's clearly written and well-argued book, Public/Private, is an important and welcome addition to the literature on the subject. Through his historically informed and refreshingly sober analysis of the many complex issues surrounding the public/private controversy in today's world, Fairfield has managed to set out a well-articulated, well-balanced, and much needed defense of the moral right to personal privacy--to difference, plurality, and self-realization--in an age when everything seems to conspire against it.--G.B. Madison, McMaster University

From the Publisher