Rola wstydu w obronie godności osoby ludzkiej

Abstract

The contemporary world is marked with a moral crisis exposed in the disappearing dignity for man as person. Man is deprived of intimacy, a vision that is promoted at the moment, and in consequence he is treat as an object of pleasure. The phenomenon of shame is therefore an ally in the effort to bring back to man his respective measure. A reflection on shame should be placed within the realm of anthropological questions, for there is a close relationship between shame and person. Fulfilling the protective function, shame warns us against violating the value of person, before using him or her without respective dignity. Shame appeared together with sin that destroyed the primary harmony with God, with himself, with another man, and with the whole of creation. We are facing a situation that evokes fear that a person may be used and humiliated, therefore this situation calls for hiding what is most essential for man. Sexual shame is particularly noteworthy. It is expressed in the „shame of the body”, that is, in avoiding such an exposition of sexual values that would cover the essential value of person. Sexual shame is not an escape from love, but on the contrary it opens a way to it by allowing to preserve respective proportions between the integral value of person and his or her sexual values. Due to the fact that shame not only protects man’s dignity, but also fulfils an educational function. Therefore we cannot ignore the foundation of the sense of shame in the overall conception and structure of pedagogical systems.