Self-Control, Knowledge, and Practical Wisdom

This chapter initiates Part One of the book, which consists of phenomenological descriptions of a wide spread of various modes of shame. This chapter discusses three types of failures that generate shame: those of self-control, knowledge, and practical wisdom. These modes often overlap, but they are also distinct logically and factually. Examples come from several different periods of history and literature as well as from events in our own historical epoch that illustrate something of the complexities and conflicts in intercorporeal relationships and the associations of power with dignity and weakness with shame.