face ERIC KIM selfie ai

SHAME IS A WEAPON

Or in other words, why I am anti-shame, and anti-shaming.

The etymology of shame

It seems shame is a modern notion. The closest root is the Ancient Greek word (aiskhos). Interestingly, shame was also a word to describe physical ugliness or deformity in a human being. The opposite word is ‘kalos‘, which means “beautiful, useful, good, virtuous, noble”. Thus if we philosophize on the meaning of ‘shame’ —

Perhaps shame is a way to denote the noble and the ignoble (not noble).


The good as the beautiful?

First thought:

The philosophy that the good is also the beautiful. That the beautiful is the good.

This means:

A hierarchy or an opposition between the beautiful and the ugly.

Then a thought:

What is the philosophy of ugliness?