Scientific article
OA Policy
English

Theories of whistleblowing

Published inPhilosophy Compass, vol. 2020, no. 15, p. 2-10
Publication date2019
Abstract

“Whistleblowing” has entered the scholarly and the publicdebate as a way of describing the exposure by the memberof an organization of episodes of corruption, fraud, or generalabuses of power within the organization. We offer acritical survey of the main normative theories ofwhistleblowing in the current debate in political philosophy,with the illustrative aid of one of the epitomic figures of awhistleblower of our time: Edward Snowden. After conceptuallyseparating whistleblowing from other forms ofwrongdoing disclosures, we introduce and discuss two familiesof normative views of this practice: the “Extrema Ratio”and the “Deontic” views. We show how the two views canbe usefully considered in tandem to offer an all-roundassessment of the moral justification of whistleblowingeither as an extraordinary individual conscientious act ofindictment or as an ordinary dutiful organizational practiceof answerability that enables the capacity of self-correctionof an organization.

Keywords
  • Whistleblowing
  • Corruption
  • Political Theory
  • Philosophy
  • Accountabiity
NoteOpen access
Citation (ISO format)
CEVA, Emanuela, BOCCHIOLA, Michele. Theories of whistleblowing. In: Philosophy Compass, 2019, vol. 2020, n° 15, p. 2–10. doi: 10.1111/phc3.12642
Main files (2)
Article (Submitted version)
Article (Published version)
Identifiers
Journal ISSN1747-9991
914views
210downloads

Technical informations

Creation08/11/2019 11:32:00
First validation08/11/2019 11:32:00
Update time15/03/2023 18:25:14
Status update15/03/2023 18:25:14
Last indexation31/10/2024 16:58:37
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack