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| Eddie_the_Kid
Posts: 2,545 Status: Lord Karma: +377 [+1] [-1]   |
Subject: 2) Is privacy a right, need, or both? | |||||
| In 1975 James Rachels put out a paper called "Why Privacy is Important" in which he makes the argument that we do legitimately need privacy to exist because it allows us to have and to control the various kinds of social relationships that we tend to have. "Separation allows us to behave with certain people in the way that is appropriate to the sort of relationship we have with them, without at the same time violating our sense of how it is appropriate to behave with, and in the presence of, others with whom we have a different kind of relationship," (Rachels, 1975, pg. 330-331) Here Rachels is hinting at what we now know from psychology to be true. Humans are a social species and thus need relationships with other individuals in order to survive. Moore expands on the point Rachels is making by saying: "Without privacy or what may be called a dissociation ritual there could be no stable social relation. As social animals we seek the company of our fellows but at the some point interaction becomes bothersome and there is a mutual agreement to separate," (Moore, 2003, pg. 222). Moore concludes this topic by saying that "...privacy is valuable for beings like us. The ability to regulate access to our bodies, capacities, and powers and to sensitive personal information is an essential part of human flourishing or well being," (Moore, 2003, pg. 223). So there is a concrete need to privacy as social beings, without it we would not be able to have the relationships we do and thus be unable to fully develop personally. Furthermore, since the need deals directly with social interaction and personal development, it is also a right in terms of social/cultural rights and personal rights that I explained in the opening post. So even if government/legal right fail to represent the right to privacy, it is still a right. |
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