Overview

Cécile Fabre draws back the curtain on the ethics of espionage and counterintelligence.Espionage and counter-intelligence activities, both real and imagined, weave a complex and alluring story. Yet there is hardly any serious philosophical work on the subject. Cécile Fabre presents a systematic account of the ethics of espionage and counterintelligence. She argues that such operations, in the context of war and foreign policy, are morally justified as a means, but only as a means, to protect oneself and third parties from ongoing violations of fundamental rights. In doing so, she addresses a range of ethical questions: are intelligence officers morally permitted to bribe, deceive, blackmail, and manipulate as a way to uncover state secrets? Is cyberespionage morally permissible? Are governments morally permitted to resort to the mass surveillance of their and foreign populations as a means to unearth possible threats against national security? Can treason ever be morally permissible? Can it ever be legitimate to resort to economic espionage in the name of national security? The book offers answers to those questions through a blend of philosophical arguments and historical examples.

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9780198833765

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The coverage here is impressive, the scholarship is superb, and the volume as a whole provides a valuable vista onto the state of Chaucer studies right now that will offer a starting point for the next generation of scholars. * Jennifer Sisk, Modern Philology *

Very little has been written on the ethics of espionage, and this text begins to fill the gap. * K. Buterbaugh, Southern Connecticut State University, CHOICE * Spying Through a Glass Darkly: The Ethics of Espionage and Counter-Intelligence is a comprehensive and forensic survey of espionage practices and the necessary evils sometimes carried out by their exponents. It would be of particular interest to philosophers, legal theorists and military historians. * Graham Elliott, Philosophy Now *

Author Information

Cécile Fabre is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Oxford, and Senior Research Fellow in Politics at All Souls College. Previously she taught at the London School of Economics and the University of Edinburgh. She holds degrees from the Sorbonne University, the University of York, and the University of Oxford. Her research interests include theories of distributive justice, issues relating to the rights we have over our own body and, more recently, just war theory and the ethics of foreign policy.

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