Speaking Truth to Power - A Theory of Whistleblowing

Daniele Santoro is Researcher at the Center for Ethics, Politics, and Society (CEPS) of the University of Minho - Portugal. His interests lie in the ethics of dissent, secrecy, constitutional rights, the epistemic aspects of rights and justice, and the pragmatic analysis of legal concepts. His works on these and related subjects have appeared, among others, for Social Epistemology, Philosophy and Social Criticism, Philosophical Topics, Philosophia and in edited volumes for Routledge and Continuum. He holds a PhD in Philosophy of Law from the University of Padua. In recent year he held research fellowships at the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-IRPPS), the Luiss University of Rome (where he taught for several years), the Institute for Advanced Studies of Aix-Marseille, and the Hoover Chair at UC Louvain. Manohar Kumar is Assistant Professor of IT and Society at the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Delhi. Hiscurrent research interests are around questions of civil disobedience, democratic secrecy, digital dissent, and epistemic injustice. His works have appeared in Philosophy and Social Criticism, and in edited volumes of Routledge. He holds a PhD in Political Theory from LUISS University, Rome and has held post-doctoral positions at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and at Aix Marseille School of Economics, Aix Marseille University, where this book was completed.

“Speaking Truth to Power is organized like an essay collection. Each chapter has its own abstract, keywords and reference list. … The book, nevertheless, represents the most important contribution on the theme, pregnant with important consequences concerning non-ideal democratic theory and the criteria of public interest.” (Rúben Batista, Ethical Perspectives, Vol. 27 (1), 2020)

• Preface.- Acknowledgments.- 1. Introduction.- 2. What is Whistleblowing?.- 3. Public Interest and the Threat of Corruption. A Case for Civic Whistleblowing.- 4. Liberty, Security, and the Threat of Secrecy.- 5. A Justification of Political Whistleblowing.- 6. Charting Dissent: Whistleblowing, Civil Disobedience, and Conscientious Objection.- 7.  Conclusion.- Index.