Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation

by Sissela Bok

The author of Lying shows how the ethical issues raised by secrets and secrecy in our careers or private lives take us to the heart of the critical questions of private and public morality.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Collections

458 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Sissela Bok (born Sissela Myrdal on 2 December 1934) is a Swedish-born American philosopher and ethicist, the daughter of two Nobel Prize winners: Gunnar Myrdal who won the Economics prize with Friedrich Hayek in 1974, and Alva Myrdal who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982.

She received her B.A. and M.A. in psychology from George Washington University in 1957 and 1958, and her Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1970. Formerly a Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis University, Sissela Bok is currently a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard School of Public Health.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Kylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sissela Bok is a brilliant writer and ethical/philosophical model. Her books explore the things we often wish to ignore or shrug off.

Secrets delves into the secrets kept in today's society. It argues both that secrets are necessary and unnecessary. It explores ways to reducing problems caused by secrets and investigates the good and bad consequences of keeping secrets in work, government, religion, home life and essentially any other relationship.

This book really gets the reader to think and to explore his or her own ethical choices and stance.

[Mythlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bok's idea of secrecy is fairly broad, and necessarily a bit fluid as she tackles a broad array of secrets with varying motivations and pitfalls. (For instance, she considers undercover investigations by police or journalists to be 'secrets,' and in the discussion, her gravest moral concern appears to be the deception, cf. her earlier book, Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life.)

I could see some people getting turned off by the 'egghead' aspect of the analysis, particularly when she is scrutinizing the moral claims of widely accepted practices.

In addition, there are some aspects of the discussion which have come to seem outdated, simply because they do not (and could not) address cultural developments that have occurred since the book's publication. These days, one would expect a discussion of an individual's privacy and the delicate balance between the urge to conceal and reveal to grapple with the phenomenon of reality TV shows and social media, where large numbers of people freely share intimate details of their lives. Likewise, a discussion of the ethics of undercover journalism would now perhaps have to address our ubiquitous recording devices (esp. smartphones) and social media. In effect, everyone can be a 'citizen journalist' with rapid worldwide distribution at virtually no cost, and with no professional training or codes of behavior. There are many people out there who are quite deliberately disruptive and provocative in public, in hopes of going viral with a damning video clip (likely with any mitigating context stripped away).

For me personally, this was a very interesting and timely book. The idea that secrecy may harm the secret-keeper(s) over time, and that secrecy (even where justifiable) should be subject to checks, really struck home.

[Genevieve C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would describe this bok also as a liberating read. Ms. Bok's logic is both practical and elegant.

[Stephen Sorensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possibly due to being more familiar with outright deception and less familiar with deceit through concealment, I found this book of Bok's more interesting and intellectually stimulating than her book Lying. Still, given her fame and the popularity of her books, I feel somewhat let down.

Even with that, it still felt a mile wide and an inch deep, repetitive, often oversimplifying the depth of relevant words and concepts. Whatever the reasoning may be, I probably will return to this as a reference in the future but not read it cover to cover again.

[James Tomasino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to add this book to the list of "books that so thoroughly cover a concept that I'm never going to argue about it again but rather send people a copy of this instead." I can't recommend this enough for literally everyone. So many fallacies and social-media arguments are undermined so thoroughly in these pages I can't even begin to list them all. Do yourself a favor and put this in the to-read pile.

[Nuno de Oliveira · Rating 3 out of 5]

“To keep a secret from someone, then, is to block information about it or evidence of it from reaching that person, and to do so intentionally: to prevent him from learning it, and thus from possessing it, making use of it, or revealing it.”

[Honey Rand · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is part of a research project. Heuristic as I wanted but much not relevant to my work.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

May eventually backtrack to get to her book Lying.

[Peter Podbielski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bok's cogent and powerful treatment of a complex topic remains current as it was 30 years ago.

[Quratulain · Rating 5 out of 5]

ExcB

[Steve Ball · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bok chooses topics that are interesting, such as, "Secrets", and, "Lying". I think collected essays from different writers on those subjects would have been also interesting.