Professor Cecile Fabre publishes new book on the morality of spying

In Spying Through a Glass Darkly Professor Cecile Fabre tackles the ethically complex question of espionage and counter-intelligence.

Published by Oxford University Press on 25 January, it is an in-depth philosophical exploration of the subject and has been heralded as a 'ground-breaking investigation into the morality of spying'.

Using case studies from recent history and philosophical reasoning, Professor Fabre seeks to answer the question: When is espionage morally permissible?

In her study, she considers a broad range of spying activities; from bribery and blackmail, to cyber-spying, mass surveillance and more.

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. 

Professor Cecile Fabre comments: "Philosophers haven’t paid much attention to the ethics of espionage, yet it is a rich issue.

"I have always been fascinated by some of the moral dilemmas of espionage: whether and when to deceive, to betray, to ‘steal’ state secrets, to put others under close surveillance…Espionage and counter-intelligence are often seen as ‘dirty business’. As I argue in the book, it can sometimes be morally justified, indeed, morally mandatory, to spy, and to protect our own secrets."