Shame results from a painful perception of the self as failing, inadequate, or defective. The root of the word means to cover or hide. We try so hard to hide failure, inadequacy, and personal defects ...

To read Frédéric Gros’s A Philosophy of Shame is to be reminded of how vulnerable we are to the emotion’s inhibitions and agonies. We shame, we are ashamed, and we expend significant energy imagining ...