On Shame - a project
Just over a decade ago I had started work on a Masters thesis about the moral appropriateness of shame before moving provinces for an opportunity to study cognitive science, something I'd dreamed of doing ever since I first heard the term. I loved cog.sci, and still do - it was one of the most important intellectual moves I've ever made in my life, and would choose to do it again, every time. But abandoning my work on shame is something that continues to haunt me. It was a project that was very close to my heart - I loved the subject matter and the philosophical approaches available to me - the intersection of moral psychology, literature, ethics. And it subject matter was particularly relevant to me for two reasons. Firstly, I am a white South African, and dealing with the shame of our extremely difficult past is something that I've struggled with. Understanding how I'm implicated in the evils of our past, my responsibilities with regards to it, the appropriate respons...