Law Commons^™

Privacy In Confucian And Taoist Thought, Christina B. Whitman

Book Chapters

Only three aspects of the broad concept "privacy" will be explored in this essay: privacy as providing a sphere for intimate personal relationships with family and friends, privacy as freedom from surveillance for purposes of gathering personal information, and privacy as freedom from interference by government or social controls. These concepts describe quite different concerns. They are often grouped together under the single term "privacy," but not without some strain... A comparison between a modern Western value and its counterpart, if any, in very early Confucian and Taoist belief is inevitably somewhat strained. But it serves a purpose. If nothing …