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Making Sense of Shame

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2021

James Laing
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Abstract

In this paper, I argue that we face a challenge in understanding the relationship between the ‘value-oriented’ and ‘other-oriented’ dimensions of shame. On the one hand, an emphasis on shame's value-oriented dimension leads naturally to ‘The Self-Evaluation View’, an account which faces a challenge in explaining shame's other-oriented dimension. This is liable to push us towards ‘The Social Evaluation View’. However The Social Evaluation View faces the opposite challenge of convincingly accommodating shame's ‘value-oriented’ dimension. After rejecting one attempt to chart a middle course between these extremes, I argue that progress can be made if we reject the widespread assumption that the other-oriented dimension of shame is best understood primarily terms of our concern with the way we appear to others. Instead, I outline an account which treats shame as manifesting our desire primarily for interpersonal connection and which elucidates the property of shamefulness in terms of merited avoidance (or rejection).

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Type
Research Article
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Philosophy , Volume 97 , Issue 2 , April 2022 , pp. 233 - 255
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Institute of Philosophy.

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An addendum has been issued for this article:

Making Sense of Shame – ADDENDUM

James Laing