Piper's question and ours

a role for adversity in group-centred views of non-agentive shame

Basil Vassilicos

pp. 241-264

in: Continental Philosophy Review 52 (2), 2019.

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to "group-centred views' of non-agentive shame (victim shame, oppression shame), by linking them to an "anepistemic" model of the experience and impact of human failing. One of the most vexing aspects of those group-centred views remains how susceptivity to such shame ought to be understood. This contribution focuses on how a basic familiarity with adversity, in everyday life, may open individuals up to these forms of shame. If, per group-centred views, non-agentive shame is importantly driven by participation in social practices with others, a better understanding of the impact of adversity on individuals' lives may offer a way of explaining how embodied experience instils in individuals a need for such participation. The upshot is an understanding of the individual's susceptivity to non-agentive shame, which affords it the same legitimacy as more conventional notions of shame.