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Does shame have a limited moral role because it is associated with a loss of self-respect or is it an important emotional support for socially beneficial behaviours? Aristotle supports the latter position. In his ethical theory, he famously claims that shame is a semi-virtue essential in the habituation of moral norms. He clarifies this role in the Rhetoric’s lesser-known distinction between true and conventional shame, which implies human beings make subjective evaluations of those appropriated cultural norms. Importantly, he locates this (...) potential for ethical assessment in friendship and not in public discourse, as he thinks it would be shameless to publicly evaluate moral rules. The article ends by exploring potential critiques to his position and argues that Aristotle’s approach makes shame indispensable for moral progress, even though we might want to consider some limited role for shameless public protest. (shrink)

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Deliberative democratic theorists often trace their idea that vigorous democracies rely on open deliberation to ancient Athenian democracy. Furthermore, deliberative theorists claim that equal, inclusive, rational, and government responsiveness can reverse trends of political apathy. Although the equal right to speak in the Assembly (isēgoria) was a defining trait of Athenian democracy, we have little evidence for actual ancient deliberative practices. By using the agōnes or formal debates in two of Euripides’ political plays—Suppliant Women and Children of Heracles—as a proxy (...) for such interactive citizen debate, this article explores two main questions: first, to what degree does ancient tragedy reflect expectations of deliberative democracy?; and second, what lessons can be drawn from these dramatized speeches for contemporary debates? Importantly, confirming many key expectations of deliberative democratic theory, Euripides’ agōnes provide additional support for the critique that successful deliberation is not solely rational but requires emotional saliency relevant to the context of the debate. Thus, Euripides’ dramatizations imply that positive deliberation is not simply a matter of increasing communicative opportunities but requires a more robust civic education that includes psychological and philosophical training. (shrink)

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