Paper's abstract

Bernard Beignier, Public Life and Private Life
Is private life the mere opposite of public life ? Then one must know if private life must be defined in relation to public life or if one must take the adverse reasoning. Where is the main point, where is the accessory one? But is there really, in this field, one main and one accessory point ? It is therefore useless to try dissociating private from public. Privacy is more certainly the duty to respect the tranquillity and serenity of others' life. But as soon as one decides to see it as a subjective right, a "right to privacy", it takes an altogether different magnitude. It becomes a claim to be able to "live one's life". The issue is no longer to require from others the minimum duty of respecting one's individuality but to ground on it in order to oppose one's choice of life to the society. Here Latin tradition and American tradition are confronted.

Key Words : privacy, public life
t. 41, 1997 : p. 163-180

---