Researchers from the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) participated in the seminar ‘On Modesty and Shame in Max Scheler's Work'. The event was organized by the projects 'Natural Law and Practical Rationality' and 'Education of Emotion and Human Sexuality' (EASH) on the initiative of the ICS scientific coordinator, Dr. Ana Marta González. The objective was to promote dialogue between philosophers, doctors and educators from the two projects.

During the meeting, Dr. Crespo, a researcher on the ‘Natural Law' project, set out the fundamental principles of Scheler's thought about the feelings of shame and embarrassment. As he pointed out, one of these principles is that "the feeling of shame has, in some way, the function of protecting the individuality of people."

Interdisciplinary collaboration

"I've always found Scheler´s research about certain feelings or emotional experiences particularly interesting. Many of them have moral significance: this is the case with repentance", said Dr. Crespo.

According to Professor Crespo, it is of great interest for scholars of the projects 'EASH' and 'Natural Law' to address this issue together, since the former is devoted to practical aspects and the second focuses especially on reflection.

"In the project on practical rationality we are interested in looking at everything that has to do with affective rationality, everything that concerns emotional rationality," he said. "Intellectual knowledge is not the only influence when it comes to choosing values," he added. "Emotion and feeling also play an significant role, and Scheler is one of the most important representatives of that idea."

Thus, both projects converge at that point: "Reason is not only cognitive; it also has an emotional and affective dimension. We are not dealing with different ‘reasons', but with different sides of the same reason."