Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
8-2025
Abstract
I seek to vindicate heteronomous shame: shame that one experiences in response to a judgment from another that one does not accept. I suggest that such experiences are instances of interpersonal shame. This is shame that involves a sensitivity to interpersonal ideals, whose instantiation depends partly on the attitudes of others. I defend the importance of such shame by showing how vulnerability to others is a constitutive part of rich interpersonal relationships. The account both casts light on and vindicates the heteronomous shame that is pervasive among marginalised and oppressed groups. Such shame is not irrational but involves an accurate apprehension that misrecognition on the part of others has paralysed their ability to act and so degraded an important part of their identity.
Keywords
Shame, Social Shame, Heteronomous Shame, Interpersonal Relationships, Friendship, Recognition, Misrecognition
Discipline
Philosophy
Research Areas
Humanities
Publication
American Philosophical Quarterly
Volume
62
Issue
3
First Page
219
Last Page
232
ISSN
0003-0481
Identifier
10.5406/21521123.62.3.02
Publisher
University of Illinois Press
Citation
YIP, Brandon.(2025). Being seen and being with others: Shame and interpersonal relationships. American Philosophical Quarterly, 62(3), 219-232.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/4207
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.5406/21521123.62.3.02