Argumentative Essay On Right To Privacy

Although the right to privacy has been used to sway the outcome of many U.S court cases, including the famous Supreme Court ruling of Roe vs. Wade, there is still some debate over how the “right to privacy” should be viewed. For example both Judith Jarvis Thompson, and James Rachels agree that the right to privacy is indeed a right that is bestowed upon citizens, however their perception of how one is granted this right is quite different.

Judith Jarvis Thompson sees the right of privacy as something that can be compared to that of the right to our property (Vaughn 160). In her view she explains that the right to privacy can be seen as the “idea that our bodies are ours and [therefore] we have the same rights with respect to them that we have with respect to our other possessions” (Vaughn 160). This logic does in fact make sense to me. The idea that I own my body and therefore I have a right to it, a right to make decisions about it, just as I would have the right to own and drive my car. For example, someone would be breaking my right to privacy if they were to grab my cell phone and

scroll through all of my texts. They are breaking my right, due to the fact that I did not give them permission to do so, and in the same way, if we were adhering to Thompson’s views, they would also be breaking my right to privacy if they were to watch me through my kitchen window. Just as I own my cell phone, I also own my body and did not give permission to that individual to view either possession. However there are some flaws to this logic which James Rachels brings to attention.
Rachels does not agree with the view that our right to privacy corresponds to the right to own property.

In fact he criticizes this view by stating that “the kind of interest we have in controlling who looks at what parts of our bodies is different from the interest we have in our cars or pens” (Vaughn 160). Instead Rachels believes that the right to privacy has to deal with our daily social interactions. Whereas Thompson argues that one is granted the right to privacy due to the fact that they have ownership over their body, Rachels states that “privacy is necessary if we are to maintain the variety of social relationships with other people that we want to have” (Vaughn 157). This means that we have these relationships with others, whether this is in the form of teacher and student, or between co-workers, due to the fact that we have the right to withhold things about

ourselves.
Even though I can say that I agree with aspects of both views, I would have to say that I believe that Rachels has the best understanding of the right to privacy. I have this belief due to the fact that I should be able to apply to a job without giving potential employers access to my medical files. Although this has to due partly with the fact that I own my body and therefore those files belong to me, it mainly has to do with the relationship that I would have with my boss and or co-workers if they were to have access to my files. If I did have an illness of some sort, but still performed well at my job, then by withholding that knowledge about myself I could obtain the kind of relationships I would want from my fellow co-workers; however if my illness was shared without my permission, that information could lead to awkward relationships and could alter my treatment at the office. Therefore I believe that the right to privacy is more personal than mere ownership. I believe that it does in fact govern our relationships, and allows us to have said relationships without judgment.

Works Cited:
Vaughn, Lewis. Bioethics Principles, Issues, and Cases. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.