A Remorseful Criminal: Searching for Guilt in Aristotle

While instances of shame are plenty in Ancient Greek sources, it is notoriously difficult to identify a case of a wrongdoer who exhibits a reaction approximating our modern concept of guilt. Adopting a behavioural criterion for demarcating shame from guilt, I examine the most promising description of a guilt‐feeling from Aristotle’s Ethics . The description stands out from the earlier tradition by reversing the pattern of the behavioural tendencies of a wrongdoer, but fits well with the phenomenon of inner shame. The condition described by Aristotle can thus be conceived as self‐shaming, but one that exhibits some of the features that have more in common with guilt.