Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Aquinas on Shame: A Contemporary Interchange

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Aquinas, Education and the East

Abstract

In her recent book Blush: Faces of Shame, Elspeth Probyn offers a profile of shame drawing on the disciplines of psychology, sociology and cultural anthropology. She argues that shame is (a) inherently value-oriented, (b) necessary for human well-being and (c) universal or ‘essential’ as a human phenomenon. This approach to shame has significant resonances with the Christian ethics of Thomas Aquinas. In exploring these authors, we can gain a clearer picture of the educative and transformative function of shame in the personal, social, cultural and moral dimensions of human life. Their interchange also has implications for the interactions between East and West.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Arbuckle, Gerald A. 2010. Culture, inculturation and theologians: A postmodern critique. Collegeville: Liturgical Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle. 1976. The ethics of Aristotle: The Nichomachean ethics. Trans. J.A.K. Thomson and Hugh Tredennick, Intro. J. Barnes. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auerbach, Erich. 1974. Mimesis: The representation of reality in Western literature. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aquinas, 1963–1975, Summa Theologica, Trans. Blackfriars version of the English Dominican Province. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1963–1975.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benedict, Ruth. 1946. The chrysanthemum and the sword. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buncombe, Andrew. 2010. Suicides and pressure tactics tarnish image of micro-finance lending. The Independent, 22 November. Online at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news. Accessed 26 Mar 2011.

  • Calhoun, Cheshire. 2004. An apology for moral shame. The Journal of Political Philosophy 12(2): 127–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cessario, Romanus, O.P. 1991. The moral virtues and theological ethics. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, Gerald D., SS. 1992. Human sexuality: An all-embracing gift. New York: Alba House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cua, Anthony S. 2007. The ethical significance of shame: Insights of Aristotle and Xunzi. Philosophy East and West 52(3): 147–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, L., and B. Schaffner. 1977. Contrasts and similarities in the handling of emotions in two different cultures. Hiroshima Forum for Psychology 4: 59–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagothey, Austin. 1986. Right and reason: Ethics in theory and practice, 8th ed, Revised by Milton A. Gonsalves, 199–212. Columbus: Charles E Merrill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaita, Raimond. 1998. Romulus, my father. Melbourne: Text Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaita, Raimond. 1999. A common humanity: Thinking about love & truth & justice. Melbourne: Text Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilby, Thomas, OP (trans.). 1968. Intro. & notes, Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (2a.2ae.qq.141–154), vol. 43. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode.

    Google Scholar 

  • Girard, René. 2001. I see Satan fall like lightening. Maryknoll: Orbis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, Keith. 2007. Aquinas’s argument against self-hatred. Journal of Religious Ethics 35(1): 113–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, Pamela M. 1995. Narrative and the natural law: Interpreting Thomistic ethics. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harak, G.Simon. 1993. Virtuous passions: The formation of Christian character. Mahwah: Paulist.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiebert, Paul G. 1985. Anthropological insights for missionaries. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, Anthony J., C.Ss.R. 2007. The resurrection and moral theology: Does it make any difference? The Australian Ejournal of Theology 10: 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, Fergus. 2002. After Aquinas: Versions of Thomism. Oxford: Blackwells.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Joo Yup, and Sang Hoon Nam. 1998. The concept and dynamics of face: Implications for organizational behavior in Asia. Organization Science 9(4): 522–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leget, Carlo. 2004. Martha Nussbaum and Thomas Aquinas on the emotions. Theologica Studies 64(3): 558–580.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lester, David. 1997. Shame and suicide in Asian countries. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviour 27(4): 352–361.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lonergan, Bernard S.J. 1967. The transition from a classicist world-view to historical mindedness. In Law for liberty, ed. James E. Biechler, 126–133. Baltimore: Helicon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, Colin. 1987. The discovery of the individual. London: SPCK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, Claudia Eisen. 1999. Aquinas on our responsibility for our emotions. Medieval Philosophy and Theology 8(2): 163–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, Martha C. 2001. Upheavals in thought: The intelligence of the emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Oakley, Justin. 1992. Morality and the emotions. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ormerod, Neil. 2007. In defence of natural theology: Bringing god into the public realm. Irish Theological Quarterly 72: 227–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Probyn, Elspeth. 2005. Blush: Faces of shame. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, Daniel. 1995. Defence of Aristotelian honour. Philosophy 70(272): 286–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rohrbaugh, Richard L. 2002. Ethnocentrism and historical questions about Jesus. In The social setting of Jesus and the Gospels, ed. Wolfgang Stegemann et al., 27–43. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, Tom. 2008. Healthy shame? An interchange between Elspeth Probyn and Thomas Aquinas. Australian eJournal of Theology 12: 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, Tom. 2010. Aristotle on compassion: Has he anything to offer today? Irish Theological Quarterly 75(2): 157–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, Carl D. 1977. Shame, exposure and privacy. Boston: Beacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, Nancy. 1993. The virtues of common pursuit. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 53: 277–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steiner, George. 1967. Language and silence. London: Faber.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stocker, Michael, and Elizabeth Hegeman. 1996. Valuing emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stump, Eleonore. 2005. Aquinas. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary. 1987. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tombs, David. 1995. “Shame” as a neglected value in schooling. Journal of Philosophy of Education 29(1): 23–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomkins, Silvan S. 1963. Affect, imagery, consciousness, vol. 2, The negative affects. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomkins, Silvan S. 1995. Shame-humiliation and contempt-disgust. In Shame and its sisters: A Silvan Tomkins reader, ed. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and Adam Frank. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torrell, J-P., O.P. 1996. Saint Thomas Aquinas: Vol. 1: The person and his work. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Triandis, Harry C. 1995. Individualism and collectivism. New directions in social psychology. San Francisco: Westview.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker Bynum, Caroline. 1984. Did the twelfth century discover the individual. In her Jesus as mother: Studies in spirituality of the high middle ages, 82–109. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, Graham. 2002. In the daylight forever?: Language and silence. In Silence and the word: Negative theology and incarnation, ed. Oliver Davies and Denys Turner. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wei, K.C., and H.C. Chua. 2008. Suicide in Asia. International Review of Psychiatry 20(5): 434–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, Victor, O.P. 1964. God and the unconscious. Glasgow: Fontana Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead, James D., and Evelyn E. Whitehead. 1994. Shadows of the heart: A spirituality of the negative emotions. New York: Crossroad.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Bernard. 1993. Shame and necessity. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Theology and Philosophy, Australian Catholic University, Banyo, Brisbane, Australia

    Thomas Ryan

Authors
  1. Thomas Ryan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Ryan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, Stamford Road 90, Singapore, 178903, Singapore

    Thomas Brian Mooney

  2. , School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, Stamford Road 90, Singapore, 178903, Singapore

    Mark Nowacki

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ryan, T. (2013). Aquinas on Shame: A Contemporary Interchange. In: Mooney, T., Nowacki, M. (eds) Aquinas, Education and the East. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5261-0_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation