No Right to Classified Public Whistleblowing |
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| Authors: | Eric R. Boot |
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| Affiliation: | Institute for Philosophy Leiden University, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The NetherlandsThis article is part of the research project “Democratic Secrecy: A Philosophical Study of the Role of Secrecy in Democratic Governance,” which received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (GA 639021. PI: Dr. D. Mokrosinska). |
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| Abstract: | Given the crucial role unauthorized disclosures can play in uncovering grave government wrongdoing, it makes sense to search for a defense of justified cases of what I call “classified public whistleblowing.” The question that concerns me is what form such a defense should take. The main claim will be a negative one, namely, that a defense of whistleblowing cannot be based on individual rights, be they legal or moral, though this is indeed the most commonly proposed defense. In closing, I will outline a more appealing alternative, namely, a justification defense. |
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