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James Rachels Privacy

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In his essay, “Why privacy is important,” James Rachels argues that in order to “maintain the variety of social relationships with other people that we want to have,” privacy must be thought of as a crucial to our lives (292). However, Rachels disregards our true motives to share personal information, and thus offers a less convincing argument than the subject warrants. Rachels believes that accounting for the value of privacy simply by looking at specific, unusual circumstances fails to demonstrate the importance of privacy in ordinary situations; hence, he chooses to focus on common cases where privacy is relevant. This approach allows him to determine that we value privacy because the amount of privacy we might have with a person essentially …show more content…

But they define someone as a human being, capable of seeing and interpreting the world in ways vastly different from others. For along with being an individual comes a certain understanding that we each have unique characteristics, and thus no one human experience is alike. Moreover, these unconscious processes that constitute the most private realms of our mind affect how and with whom we interact. I contend, therefore, that the will to give others more insight into our thoughts is dependent on the emotional connection that we feel toward that person, regardless of the definition of the relationship. Though we can never completely convey our own human experiences, there are some people with whom we will inevitably connect easily. We are attracted to people who have the interest and the ability to come closer to understanding our own human experience. This is almost a way to comfort ourselves that although we are special and can choose to be alone, we need not experience life without companionship. We can have it all, as long as the other individual respects the fact that as individuals we possess private, precious thoughts that constitute our personhood. This dynamic marks a true …show more content…

As it stands, Rachels’ essay is too vague and subjective to withstand the variability of cultures and individuals. To develop a more sophisticated account of the value of privacy, he must discuss how our uncultivated human nature plays a substantial role in developing our relationships and precedes society’s influence. Regardless of the context, our individuality influences how and why we share information. Therefore, a more universal argument can be developed, since our innate drive to both protect our personhood and seek companionship will exist independently of social norms. By approaching the argument in this way, Rachels would likely arrive at a similar conclusion. For indeed, my argument does not reject the notion that we need privacy to have the variety of social relationships that we value, but rather offers a new layer for Rachels to

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