Michel Serres, a philosopher specializing in the history of science, distinguishes three types of secrets:
We can easily distinguish three types of secrets. The socio-political secret, well analyzed everywhere: knowledge is in the hands of a given class; those outside the class do not have access to it. The internal secret of science itself in its sectorial functioning, less often brought to light: from cell to cell, from discipline to discipline, communication does not take place. (…) Finally, all the secrets institutionalized by the military and industrialists. (…) The appropriation of knowledge is a function of the rigor of secrets.
Michel Serres, “La Thanatocratie”, Critique n° 298, March 1972.
Find a short biography of Michel Serres here.
To complete the three domains identified by Michelle Serres (socio-political, scientific, military industrial), please refer to our article on the definition of the word secret.
