Everyday philosophy

During the second world war, American strategists desperate to understand their Japanese foes found an unlikely inspiration: social anthropology. In particular, Ruth Benedict's book The Chrysanthemum and the Sword proposed that Japan should be understood as a "shame" culture: one whose members are terrified of public humiliation and ready to take extreme measures to salvage their honour.

The opposite of this is a "guilt" culture, in which conscience rather than public face is king: individuals feel guilt for wrongdoing whether or not their actions have been witnessed. Benedict may not have described Japan accurately, but the merits of her thesis are evident when applied to Westminster today. Here, electoral anger has focused on politicians' squirming self-justifications—and their absence of conscience. Only public shame, it seems, can curb those who secretly filed flat-screen television receipts and flipped houses in private.

Political success often relies on the absence of guilt. MPs, after all, are used to compromising fine principles for the sake of stability and power—and twinges of guilt would only get in the way. Shame keeps them in check. Few voters believe that MPs' public statements represent genuine remorse: rather, these are symbolic acts of contrition.



MPs in search of a conscience might benefit from buying (with their own money) a copy of another Benedict's work: Benedict de Spinoza's Ethics. Once expelled from the Jewish community for his "horrible heresies," Spinoza knew all about public disapproval—and wisely noted that shame can contribute to social harmony. Shame, he reasoned, requires thinking about how others see us; and, while it doesn't constitute a virtue, it can be good, since those who blush with shame are acknowledging that they have fallen short of an honourable life.

The most shocking cases among parliamentarians are not those who are shamed, but those who seem genuinely shameless. These are the one to watch, because it's hard to know what could ever motivate them to act morally. Certainly, some shameless egoists in Westminster will never fall on their swords. And if their parties won't do it, it will be up to us to disembowel them.