
Naked
The Dark Side of Shame and Moral Life
Krista K. Thomason(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 10. October 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-19-774686-8 (ISBN)
Description
We know shame can be a morally valuable emotion that helps us to realize when we fail to be the kinds of people we aspire to be. We feel shame when we fail to live up to the norms, standards, and ideals that we value as part of a virtuous life. But the lived reality of shame is far more complex and far darker than this -- the gut-level experience of shame that has little to do with failing to reach our ideals. We feel shame viscerally about nudity, sex, our bodies, and weaknesses or flaws that we can't control. Shame can cause self-destructive and violent behavior, and chronic shame can cause painful psychological damage. Is shame a valuable moral emotion, or would we be better off without it?
In Naked, Krista K. Thomason takes a hard look at the reality of shame. The experience of it, she argues, involves a tension between identity and self-conception: namely, what causes me shame both overshadows me (my self-conception) and yet is me (my identity). We are liable to feelings of shame because we are not always who we take ourselves to be. Thomason extends her thought-provoking analysis to our current social and political landscape: shaming has increased dramatically because of the proliferation of social media platforms. And although these online shaming practices can be used in harmful ways, they can also root out those who express racist and sexist views, and enable marginalized groups to confront oppression. Is more and continued shaming therefore better, and is there moral promise in using shame in this way?
Thomason grapples with these and numerous other questions. Her account of shame makes sense of its good and bad features, its numerous gradations and complexity, and ultimately of its essential place in our moral lives.
In Naked, Krista K. Thomason takes a hard look at the reality of shame. The experience of it, she argues, involves a tension between identity and self-conception: namely, what causes me shame both overshadows me (my self-conception) and yet is me (my identity). We are liable to feelings of shame because we are not always who we take ourselves to be. Thomason extends her thought-provoking analysis to our current social and political landscape: shaming has increased dramatically because of the proliferation of social media platforms. And although these online shaming practices can be used in harmful ways, they can also root out those who express racist and sexist views, and enable marginalized groups to confront oppression. Is more and continued shaming therefore better, and is there moral promise in using shame in this way?
Thomason grapples with these and numerous other questions. Her account of shame makes sense of its good and bad features, its numerous gradations and complexity, and ultimately of its essential place in our moral lives.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
383 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-774686-8 (9780197746868)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Krista K. Thomason is an associate professor of philosophy at Swarthmore College. Her main areas of research are moral psychology and the history of philosophy. Her work appears in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Kantian Review, and The Monist. Her forthcoming book is Dancing with the Devil: Why Bad Feelings Make Life Good.
Author
Associate Professor of PhilosophyAssociate Professor of Philosophy, Swarthmore College
Content
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Two Faces of Shame
- Chapter 1 Ajax: Shame and Ideals
- Chapter 2 Ajax Reconsidered: Shame and Violence
- Chapter 3 Ajax Revealed: A New Account of Shame
- Chapter 4 Ajax Redeemed: The Moral Value of Shame
- Chapter 5 Ajax Reviled: Shame and Shaming
- Conclusion: Shame and the Other Bugs in the Garden
- References