Objectification and Alienation

The analysis of Dolezal’s work continues in this chapter in terms of her and certain other people’s criticisms of Sartre’s account of shame. The chapter argues that Dolezal and others are correct that, in the former’s words, shame “reaches the foundation of who we are” and “goes straight to the core of what it means to be human.” However, their misunderstanding of Sartre’s linkage of alienation with objectification disrupts their progress along that route. The chapter also argues that Merleau-Ponty did understand Sartre correctly and provided a philosophically more adequate account of alienation and objectification. The chapter also considers how other philosophers have taken up and criticized Sartre’s account. They include Gabriele Taylor and Bernard Williams, and both of them offer criticisms of Max Scheler’s account of shame.