1. Introduction -- Part I. THE PHENOMENA -- 2. Self-Control, Knowledge, and Practical Wisdom -- 3. Shame and the Intensity of Contrasts -- 4. Shame by Association -- 5. Bodily Shame -- 6. Objectification and Alienation -- Part II. ONTOLOGY -- 7. Shame and Merleau-Ponty’s Turn to Nature -- 8. Shamelessness and Shaming.

This book utilizes Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s fascinating philosophy of embodiment to cast further light on the incredibly rich and complex phenomenon of shame. The philosopher himself made only scattered references to shame, but both his early phenomenology and his later phenomenological ontology do provide unique illumination of the phenomenon. The book demonstrates how Merleau-Ponty’s work is relevant to those of certain other thinkers in the analytic tradition. William S. Hamrick is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA. .