Shamelessness and Shaming

Merleau-Ponty would clearly regret the absence of one sense of shame—integrity, respect, and the pursuit of truth—that is, virtues of intercorporeity in addition to parliamentary democracy that he defended. Accordingly, this final chapter takes up the utility of “constructive shame” in a society in which a general sense of shame appears to be lacking. Possibilities for encouraging a sense of constructive shame are explored and Ricoeur’s “philosophical anthropology” proves to be valuable in this regard. Different scenarios are explored in which Merleau-Ponty’s and Ricoeur’s philosophies can be valuable for countering exploitation, credulity, and other unprincipled absences of “the good of self-command” (John Rawls) because of human fallibility. The author then suggests ways to utilize their philosophies to encourage a sense of constructive shame with regard to both the use and abuse of social media and in economic life. The goal is, as the German writer, Jenny Erpenbeck, has written, “a world in which difference is a topic of discussion, but not a reason to kill someone.”