PHI 2397 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Gunnar Myrdal, Alva Myrdal, Sissela Bok

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 2397
• Professor: Sardar Hosseini

Document Summary

Must be in public interest (poses harm to the public) Must be information the employee has access to by virtue of their job position: not simply personal opinion. It involves a conflicting interest between an employee"s obligation to hi/her company, his/her general obligation to the public and his/her personal interest. The public: employees have obligations towards the public. The individual: individual has obligation towards self and family. Deciding when the whistleblowing is morally justified and when it is not require a balancing of many different obligations. High stakes for individual: reassignment, legal costs, downgrades at work, work with more responsibility, constructive harassment, starting over, getting fired, undergoing fitness-for-duty examination, privacy invasion, trust undermined. The public: it depends, but mostly likely refraining from blowing the whistle may impose a huge cost on the public, or it may simply go against individual"s moral duty. Company: mutual suspicion, hiding behind executive privilege/national security.