Listen to Bonegrae interviewed on the New Books in Philosophy Podcast.
Shame is a complex social emotion that has a particularly negative valence; in the West it is associated with failure, inappropriateness, dishonor, disgrace. But within the Confucian tradition, there is in addition a distinct, positive variety of moral shame, a virtue that, as Bongrae Seok writes, "is not for losers but for self-reflective moral leaders." In Moral Psychology of Confucian Shame: Shame of Shamelessness (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), he draws on textual evidence from Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi as well as contemporary moral psychology, anthropology, biology, linguistics, and ancient Greek philosophy to illuminate one aspect of the rich Confucian tradition in moral psychology.
Dr. Seok, who is associate professor of philosophy at Alvernia University, explains how moral shame involves the whole self's sensitivity to moral ideals and supports the Confucian virtues of self-cultivation, self-reflection, and learning.
Evan Hadkins says
July 21, 2017 at 3:23 amThat sense of moral shame does turn up in western ethics. It’s an interesting one.
The moral shame containing not living up to an ideal is interesting too. Perhaps this is more part of guilt in the West – or maybe it shows that the Confucian is more personal and the West more pre-occupied with rules.