A Philosophy of Shame: A Revolutionary Emotion

by Frédéric Gros, Andrew James Bliss (Translator)

Overview

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

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 obscene wealth amid wider deprivation. We feel ashamed of humanity for its ruthless and relentless exploitation of the earth. We feel ashamed of the racism and sexism that permeate society and our everyday lives.

This difficult emotion is not just sadness or a withdrawal into oneself, nor is it a paralysing sense of inadequacy. As Frédéric Gros argues in A Philosophy of Shame, it arises when our perception of reality rejects passivity and resignation and instead embraces imagination. Shame thus becomes the expression of an anger that is a powerful, transformative force —one that assumes a radical character.

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781804294154
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	06/10/2025
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.88(w) x 8.56(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

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 con-temporary issues, including disobedience, shame and war. He is also the author of the bestselling book A Philosophy of Walking.

Table of Contents

Foreword
1. A Bad Reputation
2. Societies Without Honour?
3. Social Disdain
4. A Ghost Story
5. Melancholy
6. The Total Social Fact: Incest and Rape (Traumatic Shame)
7. The Sexual Foundations of the Republic
8. Aidos
9. Philosophy as the Great Shamer
10. Future Imperfect
11. Intersectional Shame
12. Systemic Shame
13. Revolutionary Shame
Notes

Editorial Reviews

"In this elegant, psychologically sharp and richly referenced analysis, Gros shows us how shame, as Marx wrote, ‘is already a revolution of its kind’. In chapters that weave deftly between politics, literature and psychoanalysis, he leads us carefully through the familiar sources of shame (social contempt, moral violence, bodily disgust) to its collective and public iterations (shame at one’s people, or even one’s species). He shows us how it is through embracing shame as a passionate engagement with the world that one escapes its melancholic and disfiguring effects."
—Richard Seymour, author of Disaster Nationalism

"Equipped with many references to Freud, French classics, and Greek philosophy, Gros attempts to reveal the complexities of human shame by parsing it out into a series of taxonomies such as moral shame, digital shame, and shame rooted in how one is perceived by others"
—Kirkus Reviews

"In cataloguing the varieties of shame, Gros roughly defines it as “an amalgam of sadness and rage,” often rooted in the fear of exposure...Gros hopes to revive it as a force for change, citing Marx: 'If a whole nation were to feel ashamed it would be like a lion recoiling in order to spring.'"
—Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine

"An accessible and engaging introduction to philosophical conceptions of shame."
—Alexander Stern, The Washington Post

From the Publisher

2025-03-22
An old-fashioned examination of shame, supported by stacks of psychoanalytical, literary, and philosophical citations.

Equipped with many references to Freud, French classics, and Greek philosophy, Gros (Disobey! The Philosophy of Resistance, 2020, etc.) attempts to reveal the complexities of human shame by parsing it out into a series of taxonomies such as moral shame, digital shame, and shame rooted in how one is perceived by others. “This existence in the gaze of others is our hell,” he explains, “our loss of innocence.” Each of these categorizations leads to further variations and subclassifications, such as discussions of family honor and “insurmountable disgust” or “the shame of being seen as—or feeling oneself to be—pitiful, revolting, and dirty….We project ourselves into all manner of scenarios beneath the gaze of other people, and those imaginings prompt us to erect a moral barrier.” In order to reckon with shame’s amorphous forms, Gros similarly projects himself into a variety of philosophical stances that often feel more like curious explorations than they do reinforcements of a cohesive statement. Gros is eager to humanize his claims and often articulates his points as a narrative: In one section discussing gender equality, he writes, “It used to be the case that I was excluded from a particular post or status because I was a woman or from an ethnic minority or from a disadvantaged background.” Elsewhere, he dons the voice of an abuse survivor, and later, in tandem with a discussion of Sartre, imagines himself being caught spying by a neighbor. Much of the book is devoted to discussions of sexual abuse, which, when viewed primarily through the lens of literature and philosophy, lands on awkward footing. Ultimately, Gros’ hypothetical, drifting narrative detaches his philosophy from the humanity at the core of his subject. This leaves much of the book in the realm of fanciful inquisition and risks reducing trauma to a series of intellectual quandaries.

An academic treatise rich in concept but short on heart.

Kirkus Reviews