Fallible Man is the second book in Paul Ricoeur’s early trilogy on the will and the most accessible of his early writings. While the descriptive approach of Freedom and Nature set aside all normative questions, Fallible Man removes those brackets to examine the bad will, asking what makes evil a possibility. Combining rigor and originality, Ricoeur locates the possibility of evil in a self that is fundamentally in conflict with itself. Edited by Scott Davidson, A Companion to Ricoeur's Fallible Man clarifies and contextualizes the central arguments developed in Ricoeur’s philosophy of the will, providing insight into his formative influences and themes. The collection gathers an international group of scholars who specialize in Ricoeur’s thought to shed light on an impressive range of themes from Fallible Man that resonate with contemporary debates in philosophy and religion.

Combining rigor and originality, Ricoeur's Fallible Man locates the possibility of evil in a self that is fundamentally in conflict with itself. The contributors to this volume shed light on an impressive range of themes from the most accessible of Ricoeur's early writings tha...

The Symbolism of Evil is the final book in Ricoeur’s early trilogy on the will. While Freedom and Nature sets aside normative questions altogether and Fallible Man examines the question of what makes the bad will possible, here Ricoeur takes up the question of evil in its actuality. What is the nature of the will that has succumbed to evil? The question of evil resists reflection and remains inscrutable, leading Ricoeur to proceed indirectly through a study of the abundant resources contained in symbols and myths. Symbols, as Ricoeur famously says, “give rise to thought” and thereby open up a field of meanings which help to inform a philosophical reflection on evil. This hermeneutics of symbols signals an important shift in Ricoeur’s philosophical trajectory, which increasingly turns to language and the various forms of discourse which harbor multiple meanings. The contributors to this volume, edited by Scott Davidson, highlight a wide range of important themes in Ricoeur’s treatment of the symbolics of evil that resonate with current topics in contemporary philosophy and religion.

Paul Ricoeur’s first book, Freedom and Nature, introduces many themes that resurface in various ways throughout his later work, but its significance has been mostly overlooked in the field of Ricoeur studies. Gathering together an international group of scholars, A Companion to Freedom and Nature is the first book-length study to focus exclusively on Freedom and Nature. It helps readers to understand this complex work by providing careful textual analysis of specific arguments in the book and by situating them in relation to Ricoeur’s early influences, including Merleau-Ponty, Nabert, and Ravaisson. But most importantly, this book demonstrates that Freedom and Nature remains a compelling and vital resource for readers today, precisely because it resonates with recent developments in the areas of embodied cognition, philosophical psychology, and philosophy of the will. Freedom and Nature is fundamentally a book about embodiment, and it situates the human body at the crossroads of activity and passivity, motivation and causation, the voluntary and the involuntary. This conception of the body informs Ricoeur’s unique treatment of topics such as effort, habit, and attention that are of much interest to scholars today. Together the chapters of this book provide a renewed appreciation of this important and innovative work.

Paul Ricoeur and the Lived Body extends the scope of Paul Ricoeur’s reflections and analyses of the body as one’s own through explorations into the ethical, cultural, and affective dimensions of our corporeal existence. Starting with the fact that each of us has a place in the world by reason of our mode of incarnation as flesh, the contributors to this volume address a range of diverse themes in which the lived body figures. Edited by Roger W. H. Savage, this book investigates the construction of narrative identities and the social assignment of gender and race, the passions and an ethics of respect, affect theory, feeling, the carnal imagination, and the cultural and social milieu that comprises the conditions of our embodiment as subjects who have deeply held convictions and beliefs. By acknowledging that the lived body is irreducible to an object in the world, the essays in this volume have a common point: our assurance in acting and suffering is rooted in the mode of our incarnate existence as fragile yet capable human beings.

Can finite humans grasp universal truth? Is it possible to think beyond the limits of reason? Are we doomed to failure because of our finitude? In this clear and accessible book, Barnabas Aspray presents Ricœur's response to these perennial philosophical questions through an analysis of human finitude at the intersection of philosophy and theology. Using unpublished and previously untranslated archival sources, he shows how Ricœur's groundbreaking concept of symbols leads to a view of creation, not as a theological doctrine, but as a mystery beyond the limits of thought that gives rise to philosophical insight. If finitude is created, then it can be distinguished from both the Creator and evil, leading to a view of human existence that, instead of the 'anguish of no' proclaims the 'joy of yes.'

THE BLACKWELL COMPANION TO HERMENEUTICS "The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics is destined to become an invaluable resource for its incisive discussions of all aspects of hermeneutics within the field of philosophy." —Burt Hopkins, Seattle University "This is an extraordinarily rich collection of articles on every aspect of hermeneutics. It covers not just the history of hermeneutics from the ancient Greeks to the present, but also topics ranging from aesthetics and politics to pragmatism and deconstruction as analyzed by key thinkers such as Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, Gadamer, Vattimo, and Apel. This Companion is an essential guide to the hermeneutic tradition." —Dermot Moran, University College Dublin "Hermeneutics—the philosophical theory of interpretation—has been one of the most influential strands of European thought over the last two hundred years or more. This comprehensive volume of essays, with contributions by many leading experts in the field, constitutes an ideal point of entry into the hermeneutic tradition. Its range and level of detail will also appeal to those who wish to advance their knowledge of hermeneutic philosophy and its many important consequences." —Peter Dews, University of Essex The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics is a collection of original essays that provides a definitive historical, systematic, authoritative, and critical compendium of philosophical hermeneutics. The volume explores the art and theory of interpretation as it intersects with contemporary philosophical and interdisciplinary schools of thought, including humanism, politics, education, theology, literature, and law. Essays also include cutting-edge discussions of the relation of hermeneutics to the history of philosophy, and address the major themes, topics, core concepts, and key figures at the heart of the discipline. The reference features 70 chapters from an international cast of leading and upcoming scholars, who offer historically informed, philosophically comprehensive, and critically astute contributions in their individual fields of expertise. In doing so, they identify and enact different aspects of hermeneutical aims and approaches in an attempt to bear witness to both the inherent diversity of hermeneutics, and also the constancy and fidelity of its return to history and tradition. Timely and thought-provoking, The Blackwell Companion to Hermeneutics is the only comprehensive reference work of its kind, and offers a wealth of information for everyone with an interest in hermeneutics.

Reading Religious Ritual with Ricoeur: Between Fragility and Hope creates a dialogue between Ricœur’s hermeneutic philosophy and the interpretation of human ritual practices, especially as such practices are manifested within the context of Christian liturgy. In the first part of the book, Christina M. Gschwandtner shows that Ricœur’s account of religion would be deepened if it were to take into account not only the biblical texts but also forms of liturgical expression and ritual actions. She challenges Ricœur’s early reading of the symbol and second naïveté, broadens his interpretation of biblical texts and faith to consider religious actions more fully, and suggests that ritual can enhance human capacities. The second part of the book employs Ricœur’s hermeneutics in order to shed light on the analysis of liturgy, demonstrating that his accounts of truth, of the world of the text, of religious language, of the imagination, and of the formation of identity are all eminently applicable to liturgical experience. Reading Religious Ritual with Ricoeur shows that one of the most significant themes in Ricœur’s work—the tension between fragility and hope—is especially helpful for understanding what liturgy does and how it functions. Seeing how liturgy and ritual configure fragility and hope also enriches Ricœur’s account of the role and function of religion in human experience.

The Ambiguity of Justice consists of a collection of essays that address difficulties and potential contradictions in thinking justice by focussing on Ricoeur's theory of justice and on the major thinkers that were influential for it.

Reframing Twentieth-Century French Philosophy: The Roots of Desire, edited by Elodie Boublil, investigates the works of French philosophers who have been relegated to the margins of the canon, even if their teachings and writings have been recognized as highly influential. The contributions gather around the concept of “desire” to make sense of the French philosophical debate throughout the twentieth century. The first part of the volume investigates the concept of desire by questioning the role of reflexivity in embodiment and self-constitution. It examines specifically the works of three authors—Maine de Biran, Jean Nabert, and Jean-Louis Chrétien—to highlight their specific contribution to twentieth-century French philosophy. The second part of the volume explores desire's pre-reflective and affective dynamics that resist objectification and reflexivity by analyzing the contributions of lesser-known thinkers such as Simone Weil, Sarah Kofman, and Henri Maldiney. The last part of the volume focuses on three philosophical endeavors that aim to positively rethink the foundations of phenomenology and French philosophy: Jacques Garelli, Marc Richir, and Mikel Dufrenne.