Abstract

›Shame‹/›Sc ham‹ has recently been dealt with in diverse contexts. This paper focuses on ›shyness‹/›Scheu‹=›Schamhaftigkeit‹/›pudeur‹ corresponding to ›aidos‹ and ›verecundia‹, retracing the history of the concept in German, French, Italian, and English language. ›Scheu‹/›shyness‹ implies aloofness, extreme sensitivities, physical reactions of bashfulness in men as well as in animals. The concept becomes quite widespread in the course of the 18th century, taking onsensualistic connotations. Rousseau presents himself as a victim and at the same time as a hero of ›pudeur‹/›crainte‹/›timidité‹. ›Scheu‹ becomes a characteristicattitude of the ›schöne Seele‹/›the beautiful soul‹ dear to German classicism and idealism but criticized by Hegel. In his outstanding essay Qu’est-ce que lapudeur? (1815) analyzed in this paper, the French philosopher Joseph Joubert argues for an ideal keeping apart from the world.