Ricœur’s Conflict of Interpretations in the Making. Symbols, Reflection and the War of Hermeneutics

Authors

  • Maria Luísa Portocarrero CECH, Universidade de Coimbra

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/errs.2022.590

Keywords:

Conflict of Interpretations, Consciousness, Evil, Fallibility, Hermeneutic Turn, Symbol

Abstract

The aim of this article is to situate the problem of the conflict of interpretations in Paul Ricœur by placing it in the context of Ricœur’s anthropological reflections on the questions of fallibility and evil. The article invokes the distinction between fallibility and evil and analyses the symbolic language of evil as a reason for the hermeneutic turn of Ricœur’s thought. The implications of this topic for the philosophical analyses of language and consciousness are then put in relief. The article explains the inner workings of the logic of the conflict of interpretations, showing its perspectival trait, and claims that this notion remains pertinent given that its method can today be applied to conflicts of interpretations other than those Ricœur dealt with.

References

Paul B. Armstrong, “The Conflict of Interpretations and the Limits of Pluralism,” PMLA, vol. 98/3 (1983), 341-52.

Edmund Husserl, A Crise das ciências europeias e a fenomenologia transcendental. Uma introdução à filosofia fenomenológica, trad. Diogo Ferrer (Lisboa: CFUL, 2008).

Richard Kearney, Poétique du possible. Phénoménologie herméneutique de la figuration (Paris: Beauchesne, 1984).

—, “Religion and Ideology. Paul Ricœur’s Hermeneutic Conflict,” Irish Theological Quarterly, vol. 52/1-2 (1986), 109-26.

Gonçalo Marcelo, “From Conflict to Conciliation and Back Again. Some Notes on Ricœur’s Dialectic,” Revista Filosófica de Coimbra, vol. 38/10 (2010), 341-66.

Jérôme Porée and Gilbert Vincent (dir.), Répliquer au mal. Symbole et justice dans l’œuvre de Paul Ricœur (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2006).

Maria Luísa Portocarrero, A Hermenêutica do Conflito em Paul Ricœur (Coimbra: Minerva, 1992).

Paul Ricœur, De l’interprétation. Essai sur Freud (Paris: Seuil, 1965).

—, “Du conflit à la convergence des méthodes en exégèse biblique,” in Xavier Léon-Dufour (ed.), Exégèse et herméneutique. Parole de Dieu (Paris: Seuil, 1971), 35-53.

—, Le conflit des interprétations. Essais d’herméneutique (Paris: Seuil, 1969).

—, Lectures 2 (Paris: Seuil, 1992).

—, “L’herméneutique du témoignage,” in Lectures 3. Aux frontières de la philosophie (Paris: Seuil, 1994).

—, Philosophie de la volonté II. Finitude et culpabilité I, L´homme faillible (Paris: Aubier, 1960).

—, Philosophie de la volonté II. Finitude et culpabilité II. La symbolique du mal (Paris: Aubier, 1960).

Adrien Lentiampa Shenge, Paul Ricœur, la justice selon l’espérance (Bruxelles: Lessius, 2008).

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Published

2022-07-07

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 1 (2022)

Section

Articles

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