Philosophy of Management

Volume 12, Issue 3, 2013

Ontology and the Good in Organisations

A Levinasian Approach to Whistleblowing

This article draws on the work of the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas to offer a fresh insight into the law’s response to the issue of whistleblowing. In order to achieve this we briefly outline the main themes of his philosophy of otherness which insists that the very essence of ethics springs from the subjection (a succumbing) of the Subject to the ethical call of the Other. We provide a short description of the UK law on whistleblowing before undertaking a Levinasian reading of a particular case in order to consider the dilemma that confronts the judge in framing an ethical response to the whistleblower as Other.