Shame and Junzi : The Concept of Shame in Confucius's Philosophy

Abstract

This paper examines the concept of shame or "chi” in Confucius's philosophy. Confucius uses this term in a broad sense, covering a wide range of meaning from social shame to moral shame. These different senses of shame can be stimulated by both external observation and internal moral condition, and their dissimilarities hinge on the moral cultivation. Junzi, a moral and cultivated person, feels shame and expresses it in various contexts. Moreover, shame is a moral emotion that plays a significant role in ethics at many levels, namely at personal, communal and political.