The right to privacy has been hard-earned. It is imperilled again
A new book shows how the idea of a private sphere took shape over centuries
“A PRIVATE MAN has alwaies the liberty (because thought is free,) to beleeve, or not to beleeve, in his heart,” wrote Thomas Hobbes in 1651. (It was so radical a view that the philosopher did not feel free to express it in England, and published from France.) In 1654 Susan Bounty gave birth and was hanged for adultery. In 1835 James Pratt and John Smith were executed for the crime of homosexuality.
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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Mind your own business”
Culture
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