Paul Ricoeur - Philosophy, Ethics, and Politics

1 Cover

2 Title Page Philosophy, Ethics, and Politics Paul Ricoeur Edited by Catherine Goldenstein Translated by Kathleen Blamey polity

3 Copyright Page

4 Preface by Michaël Foessel Notes

5 1. I’m Waiting for the Renaissance Notes

6 2. Sketch of a Plea for the Capable Human Being Notes

7 3. Paul Ricoeur: Act, He Said Note

8 4. The Polis is Fundamentally Perishable – Its Survival Depends on Us Notes

9 5. History as Narrative and as Practice Notes

10 6. Justice and the Market An ethics of responsibility From procedures to values State, violence, and legitimacy Notes

11 7. For an Ethics of Compromise Notes

12 8. Any News of the War? Notes

13 9. The Challenge of Evil for Philosophy Notes

14 10. Ethics, Politics, Ecology Notes

15 11. Ethics, Between Bad and WorseEthics and living-well Ethics and reciprocity Ethics and exceptions Ethics and dogmatism Notes

16 12. Art, Language, and Aesthetic Hermeneutics Notes

17 Index

18 End User License Agreement

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Paul Ricoeur

Edited by Catherine Goldenstein

Translated by Kathleen Blamey

polity

Originally published in French as Philosophie, éthique et politique: Entretiens et dialogues. Textes prepares et présentés par Catherine Goldenstein. Préface de Michaël Fœssel © Editions du Seuil, 2017

“L’Ethique, entre le mal et le pire.” Un échange de vues entre le philosophe Paul Ricoeur et le Pr. Yves Pélicier, Psychiatre. Propos recueillis par Christian Ballouard et Sophie Duméry, in Ethique médicale ou bioéthique? , Christian Hervé (éd.), collection L’Ethique en mouvement, © Editions de l’Harmattan, 1997.

This English edition © Polity Press, 2020

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All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3450-0- hardback

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3451-7- paperback

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ricœur, Paul, author. | Goldenstein, Catherine, editor. | Blamey, Kathleen, translator.

Title: Philosophy, ethics and politics / Paul Ricoeur ; edited by Catherine Goldenstein ; translated by Kathleen Blamey.

Other titles: Philosophie, éthique et politique. English

Description: Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA, USA : Polity, 2020. | “Originally published in French as Philosophie, éthique et politique: Entretiens et dialogues. Textes prepares et présentés par Catherine Goldenstein. Préface de Michaël Fœssel Editions du Seuil, 2017.” | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “One of leading philosophers of the twentieth century addresses some of the central questions of political philosophy and ethics”-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020005433 (print) | LCCN 2020005434 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509534500 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509534517 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509534524 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Ricœur, Paul--Interviews. | Philosophers--France--Interviews. | Political science--Philosophy.

Classification: LCC B2430.R554 A513 2020 (print) | LCC B2430.R554 (ebook) | DDC 194--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020005433

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020005434

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“You never know what is chance and what is fate.” This admission of ignorance, appearing in the first of the interviews collected here ( p. 5), was often repeated by Paul Ricoeur. Whether it was a matter of accounting for the internal coherence of his work, his intellectual commitments, or his political positions, Ricoeur never believed that biographical knowledge could attain the level of science. What might be daunting in the question of the unity of one’s life for the person asking it can be mitigated by the concept of “narrative identity.” 1A narrative allows the contingency of events and the necessity attaching to the character or the historical conditions of the subject to be organized into a plot. Instead of relying on reason, he turns to imagination to link chance to fate. New narratives about the same series of events are always possible; not all of these, moreover, are recounted in the first person. In this way, the plurality of plots avoids confusing the bygone past with the inevitable.