Paul Ricoeur

Paul Ricœur (February 27, 1913, Valence - May 20, 2005, Chatenay Malabry) was a French philosopher and anthropologist best known for his attempt to combine phenomenological description with hermeneutic interpretation.

Related Topics:
February 27 - 1913 - Valence - May 20 - 2005 - Chatenay Malabry - French - Philosopher - Anthropologist - Phenomenological - Hermeneutic

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Ricœur's early years were marked by two main facts. First, he was born to a devout Protestant family, making him a member of a religious minority in Catholic France. Second, his father died in WWI in 1915, when Ricoeur was only two years old. As a result he was raised by his Aunt in Rennes with a small stipend afforded to him as a war orphan. Ricœur was a bookish, intellectually precocious boy whose penchant for study was increased by his family's protestant emphasis on bible study. Ricœur received his license in 1933 from the University of Rennes and began studying philosophy at the Sorbonne in 1934, where he was influenced by Gabriel Marcel. In 1935 he agrégated second in the nation, presaging a bright future despite his provincial origins.

Related Topics:
Protestant - Catholic - France - WWI - Rennes - Stipend - 1933 - University of Rennes - Sorbonne - Gabriel Marcel - 1935 - Agrégated

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WWII interrupted Ricœur's career, and he was drafted to serve in the French army in 1939. His unit was captured during the German invasion of France in 1940 and he spent the next five years as a prisoner of war. His detention camp was filled with other intellectuals such as Mikel Dufrenne which organized readings and classes sufficiently rigorous that the camp was accredited as a degree-granting institution by the Vichy government. During this period he read Karl Jaspers, who was to have a great influence on him. He also began a translation of Edmund Husserl's Ideas.

Related Topics:
WWII - Mikel Dufrenne - Vichy - Karl Jaspers - Edmund Husserl

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After the war Ricœur took up a position at the University of Strasbourg (1948-1956) where published widely. In 1950 he received his doctorate submitting (as is customary in France) two theses: a 'minor' thesis which was a translation and commentary on Husserl's Ideas I (the first available in French) and a 'major' thesis that would later be published as Le Volontaire et l'Involontaire. As a result of his scholarly work, Ricœur earned a reputation as an expert in phenomenology, which had become tremendously popular in France in the years after the war.

Related Topics:
University of Strasbourg - 1948 - 1956 - 1950 - Phenomenology

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In 1956 Ricœur took up a position at the Sorbonne as the Chair of General Philosophy. This appointment signaled Ricœur's rise as one of France's most prominent philosophers. It was during this time that he wrote Freud and Philosophy and The Symbolism of Evil, which cemented his reputation.

Related Topics:
1956 - Sorbonne

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From 1965 to 1970 Ricœur took up a position at the newly-founded University of Nanterre. Nanterre was an experiment in progressive education and Ricœur hoped it would allow him the opportunity to escape the stifling atmosphere of the tradition-bound Sorbonne and create a university in accordance with his vision. Unfortunately, Nanterre become a hot bed of protest during the student uprisings of May 1968 and Ricœur was derided as an 'old clown' and tool of the French government.

Related Topics:
1965 - 1970 - University of Nanterre - May 1968

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At the nadir of his popularity and disenchanted with life in France, Ricœur took a position at the University of Chicago in 1970 where he would remain until 1985. As a result Ricœur became acquainted with American philosophy and social science, making him one of the few thinkers equally at home with the French, German, and English-language intellectual scenes. The results were two of Ricœur's most important and enduring works: The Rule of Metaphor and the three-volume Time and Narrative. Building on the discussion of narrative identity, as well as Ricœur's continuing interest in the self, Ricœur presented the Gifford Lectures, which resulted in the important work "Oneself as Another."

Related Topics:
University of Chicago - 1970 - 1985

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With Time and Narrative Ricœur returned to France as an intellectual superstar. His late work was characterised by a continuous cross-cutting of national intellectual traditions, and some of his latest writing engaged the thought of the American political philosopher John Rawls.

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On November 29, 2004, he was awarded with the second John W. Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Human Sciences (shared with Jaroslav Pelikan).

Related Topics:
John W. Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Human Sciences - Jaroslav Pelikan

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Paul Ricœur died the 20th May 2005 in his house in Chatenay Malabry, west of Paris, during sleep by natural causes. French Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin declared that "the humanist European tradition is in mourning for one of his most talented exponents".

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