Shame, guilt and Martha Nussbaum’s immaturing process : alethic truth and human flourishing

In this paper, I argue that it is possible to have an account of shame and guilt as mature concepts in moral psychology that sit alongside immature ones. In arguing for this, I adopt the critical realist method of immanent critique, taking as my focus Martha Nussbaum’s accounts of shame and guilt in two key texts. Starting from a nuanced psychoanalytic foundation in Hiding from Humanity, Nussbaum undoes this grounding in favour of an elementary position (the ‘Transition’) in Anger and Forgiveness. In tracing what I call an ‘immaturing process’ in Nussbaum, I show how mature concepts can be identified by contrasting them with immature concepts, and how the mature concepts represent a deeper understanding of shame and guilt – their alethic truth – which is critical to human flourishing. I conclude by considering what can be rescued from Nussbaum’s immaturing process and its broader implications for criminal law and justice