LUIZ EDUARDO GONÇALVES OLIVEIRA FREITAS

This study aims to analyze how Plato conceives the notion of shame (‘aidôs’/’aischunê’) in his Dialogues. Despite the lack of systematic discussions or definitions about this concept, there are a lot of references to shame throughout Plato’s works. Our study combines these different elements in the Dialogues in order to understand how shame is conceived and to determine its role amidst the key concepts and theories in Plato’s psychological, epistemological and political frameworks. To do so, we associate the more explicitly formulated philosophical arguments with what we call the dialogues’ dramatic devices, i.e., the meaning proposed by the personalities and behaviors of the characters as represented in the Dialogues. I believe that, by doing so, we can get a better grasp of Plato’s complex views on shame, both as a disposition of the soul that connects one with their social environment and a moral emotion that intermediates the relation between cognition and pleasure.