A Philosophy of Shame A Revolutionary Emotion

An original reflection on shame as the central feeling of our age, the expression of an anger that is the necessary condition for new struggles, from the author of the popular Philosophy of Walking

Can shame become a source of political strength? Faced with injustice, growing inequality and systemic violence, we cry out in shame. We feel ashamed of the world, of wealth in the face of those who have nothing, of the fortune of a few tycoons when it becomes indecent. We feel ashamed for a planet that humanity exploits without restraint, for sexist and racist behaviour. It is not just sadness and withdrawal into oneself, nor is it a paralyzing sense of inadequacy.

The feeling analyzed in this book arises when our gaze on reality renounces passivity and resignation, and instead makes imagination its critical tool: shame thus becomes the expression of an anger that is power, transformative energy, and assumes to all intents and purposes– as in the reading of Marx, recovered here–a radical value.

In a constant dialogue with authors such as Primo Levi and Annie Ernaux, Virginie Despentes and James Baldwin, Frédéric Gros explores a concept that is still little understood in its depth and in its articulations– anthropological and moral, psychological and political. Shame is a revolutionary sentiment because it lies at the foundation of any path of subjective recognition, transformation, and struggle.

Frédéric Gros is Professor of Political Humanities at Sciences-po Paris. He edited Michel Foucault's books in the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (Gallimard) and his lectures at the Collège de France from 1981 to 1984. He is the author of a number of essays on contemporary issues, including disobedience, shame and war. His current work focuses on the concept of appropriation.