ABSTRACT
The problem of shame, in marked contrast with the problem of conscience, has seldom been thematized in modern moral philosophy, while discussion of shame as a phenomenon has been mainly confined within the frameworks of psychology and anthropology. (In anthropology, the counterposition of ‘shame cultures’ and ‘guilt cultures’ has become widespread.) Although it is true that certain advocates of Kulturkritik and of anthropology have noticed that consideration of the shame regulation of human conduct has gained ground in our times, the manifold implications of this recognition have been left unexplored. The following study attempts to fill the gap by offering a general theory of shame. The main issue under scrutiny will be the ethical regulation of human action and judgment, examining both its constant and varying elements. I am aware of the inherent difficulties in the task I have undertaken. A thorough analysis of the changing patterns in the system of ethical regulation calls for an historical interpretation, whereas a thorough analysis of the system’s constant patterns requires a structural interpretation. Should one undertake both simultaneously, one has to work with an historical typology inevitably selective in character. I wish to make it clear from the start that my selection is oriented towards the understanding (and the critique) of contemporary types of moral regulation. Such an undertaking implies the criticism of certain ethical theories which express and endorse these types of regulation, and this will be done in the text usually without explicit reference to these 2theories. I am going to argue that the over-rationalization of moral regulation (i) contributes to the erosion of the pillars of that same regulation; (ii) opens the way to the emergence of an irrational external authority; and (iii) that completely formalized moral philosophies not only cannot cope with these dangers but, on occasion, even reinforce them. A postulate, combining material (substantive) with formal ethics, will be formulated as a conclusion.
