Two Notions of Shame

On most accounts present in the literature, the complex experience of shame has the injury to self‐esteem as its main component. A rival view, originally propounded by S t A ugustine, relates shame to the structure of human agency, and more specifically, to the conflict between will and desire. A recent version of this view developed by D avid V elleman relates shame to the capacity of self‐presentation and the need for privacy. I examine two different interpretations of V elleman's theory and argue that neither suggests a credible alternative to the received view.