Études Ricoeuriennes / Ricoeur Studies

Introduction

Cristina Henrique da Costa — 2025-10-01

There is no doubt that for Ricoeur, reading is not an unthought-of act; on the contrary, it is part of his philosophical reflection. Whether it is because he reads the texts of other philosophers, commenting on them extensively, quoting them, or asserting that these texts are fundamental philosophical references to him, whether it is because he quotes, studies or comments on a wide range of extra-philosophical texts, including scientific, logical, linguistic, structuralist or literary-theoretical works, or whether it is because he himself interprets literary works and biblical or theological texts, it is easy to agree that Ricoeur has developed a conscious and intensive reading practice in his writings. The first impression left by his style is that of a thinker who favors dialogue and values intersubjectivity. Better still: could we not say that his need to feed off the texts of others bears witness to an ever-growing demand for himself to invent the creative conceptual means likely to mark his own singularity? What we are saying, in any case, is that for Ricoeur, the activity of reading is much more about sharing his readings with his own readers than about a reductive fidelity to the source text. And to be able to honor the virtue of sharing, we may have to start by avoiding all the traps of authority, especially the one into which a canonical text read by a philosopher too sure of his own reading could lead us.

Introduction

Cristina Henrique da Costa — 2025-10-01

Ce que Temps et récit ne dit pas

Bruno Clément — 2025-10-01

Taking as its starting point Ricœur’s theory of the act of reading in Time and Narrative, and his insistence on the essential lacuna in the literary text that constitutes the very space of reading, this article proposes a reading exercise applied to the same work. Through an analysis of the writing processes and reading protocols at work in the book, it first attempts to show how Time and Narrative is likely to affect the regime of philosophical speech. Secondly, it assesses the extent to which the writing of Time and Narrative is implicated in Ricœur’s propositions concerning time, the writing of philosophy and the reading of texts — whether philosophical or literary.

Fictions of the Self

Felice Maria Fiorino — 2025-10-01

This article will consider the links between Ricœur’s respective accounts of the experience of reading and selfhood (ipseity). Without ignoring the hermeneutic and narrative definitions of the self, I will concentrate on the phenomenological and existential aspects of this correlation. First, I will show how Ricœur’s consideration of fiction’s effects on identity is indebted not only to the phenomenological tradition—especially Sartre’s critique of the ego and Husserl’s theory of imaginative variations—but also to phenomenological theories of reading—namely those of Ingarden, Poulet and Iser. Secondly, I will argue that some phenomenological aspects that Ricœur ascribes to reading—namely its embodied and temporal nature—could be linked to the phenomenological anchoring self in relation to fictional experiences. Finally, I will consider the problem of the “identity crisis” raised by Ricœur in relation to Musil’s The Man Without Qualities in light of the mixed nature of the narrative imagination in relation to the field of action. I will argue that, on the ethical horizon of selfhood that Ricœur opens by referring to axiological imagination, works of fiction like Musil’s not only provide descriptive concepts, but also a radical categorial shift.

The Act of Reading in Paul Ricoeur’s Philosophy

Vinicio Busacchi — 2025-10-01

In this paper the author considers the problem of the act of reading in Paul Ricoeur’s philosophy. Distinguishing between the methodological level and the speculative level of this problem, it first discusses the method and style of Ricoeur’s philosophising. This can be summarised through the frame of a critical hermeneutics and, subsequently, of the philosophical fulcrum, centred on the hermeneutic–anthropological dimension and on the concept of narrative identity. The main thesis is that the ultimate justification of Ricoeur’s literary choices and his way of approaching texts and the act of reading are justified by his specific vision of the human being. Philosophical hermeneutics can lead to profile and deepen this vision.

Science Fiction and the Challenge of Genre

Kevin G. Chaves — 2025-10-01

This article argues that Science Fiction, as a genre structured by technological metaphor and utopian displacement, exposes key limitations in Paul Ricœur’s hermeneutics of narrative fiction. While Ricœur famously insists on a genre-agnostic theory of narrative configuration, his own interpretive practice privileges works with genre-specific formal challenges—particularly “tales about time.” Drawing on Ricœur’s theories of utopia, productive imagination, and the mimetic arc, I propose that Science Fiction serves as a paradigmatic genre for understanding how fictional narratives operate as ethical laboratories. The paper unfolds in two parts: first, I construct a Ricœurian theory of Science Fiction by placing his treatment of utopia and ideology in dialogue with theorists such as Suvin and Jameson, arguing that Science Fiction’s cognitive estrangement and futural form demand a genre-sensitive extension of Ricœur’s model. In the second part, I analyze how technological metaphors function as productive frameworks in two exemplary texts. William Gibson’s Neuromancer deploys the metaphor of cyberspace to dramatize the refiguration of subjectivity within digital imaginaries, while Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy reconfigures the narrative of human origin through speculative biotechnology and posthuman kinship. Across these readings, I suggest that Science Fiction not only aligns with Ricœur’s understanding of narrative as a site of ethical redescription, but also compels a revision of his framework by foregrounding genre as a structuring force in the symbolic life of fiction.

Reading Under Circumstances

Blake D. Scott — 2025-10-01

This paper responds to Edward Said’s criticism that Ricoeur’s philosophy takes insufficient account of “worldliness.” Rather than simply defend Ricoeur, I take Said’s criticism as a challenge to consolidate resources in Ricoeur’s philosophy that might be useful to non-specialists skeptical of its social theoretical relevance. First, I summarize Said’s critique of Ricoeur and formulate the enduring challenge I take from it. Second, I turn to Ricoeur’s model of the threefold mimesis of action in relation to both time and space and propose that the capabilities of narrating and building he identifies should be subsumed under the more general capacity of designing. Third, I turn to Ernst Wolff’s interpretative social theory of the “technicity” of action, which I argue that is the most productive way of conceptualizing the central role of material (or technical) circumstances in Ricoeur’s work. Finally, to alleviate Said’s concern I suggest that Michel de Certeau’s distinction between strategies and tactics is useful for emphasizing the inherent asymmetry between actors and their technical circumstances without committing to Said’s exaggerated conclusion that this asymmetry is constitutively oppressive.

Le rapt des drapeaux : art et mémoire anti-autoritaire 60 ans après un coup d’État au Brésil

Vinicius Oliveira Sanfelice — 2025-10-01

This article proposes a reflection on critical memory based on works of art created in an authoritarian political context. By analyzing “antiauthoritarian” works of art, this article poses the following question: how does Paul Ricœur’s reflection on the abuses of memory help us reflect on works of art that reappropriate national symbols to denounce the manipulation of the past? The political situation in Brazil combines abuses of violence and forgetting due to its dictatorial past and an amnesty devoid of memory or justice. Works of art help establish a relationship between personal memory and collective memory: we can emphasize their critical function of denunciation and testimony. The political and festive dimension of the works of art we will analyze highlights the manipulation of memory in Brazil.