“To be no longer ashamed of Oneself”: Shame, Embarrassment and Shamelessness in Nietzsche's Philosophy and Life (A Hermeneutical Study)

Abstract

The topic of shame may not seem, at first sight, a major issue in Nietzsche's philosophy, not any more a key to understanding it. The notion, however, does appear in some important contexts, if not highlights of his thinking, as we shall closely see, most remarkably in Gay Science and Zarathustra. Nietzsche also experienced in his life episodes of profoundly embarrassing character, and the feeling of being ashamed must have occurred, and played role, in some of the turning points of his biography. Also, if we think of shame's closest companion, guilt, it turns out even more relevant, as the philosopher has in fact engaged, and extensively, into analysis of „bad conscience”, and „guilt feeling” in his most systemic and treatise-like work On the Genealogy of Morals, and in other books, too. This analysis is psycho-anthropological in its essence, and possibly impersonal, as it refers to "mankind", yet the reader might get an impression of some "deeper" motivation hiding behind this apparently objective and impartial, still very passionate, as much as exaggerated, critique of "bad conscience" in particular, and "Christianity" in general. If we follow this impression, it might lead into a deeper investigation of the theme of shame in Nietzsche, and how it casts light on his entire philosophical endeavour.