Mestrado em Filosofia

The aim of the course is to introduce to the basic concepts of Paul Ricoeur's ethical philosophy. The ethical dimension plays a fundamental role in the development of the Ricoeurian hermeneutic phenomenology, which arises from the connection between Husserl's phenomenology and Gadamer's hermeneutics through a radical criticism of Heidegger. Ricoeur distinguishes ethics from morals. The first is the ability to live “a good life with and for others within just institutions.” The second is instead the normative dimension of human life. The fundamental ethical problem is understanding the dialectic between these two poles. This dialectic is possible only through the interpretation in situation, what Ricoeur calls "practical wisdom." During the course, we will try to understand how this concept can be applied to different situations in the fields of law and politics.

The student will gain in-depth knowledge of the main philosophical questions posed by Ricoeur’s ethics. This will allow him/her to develop a conceptual and cultural analysis of other fields of knowledge like law and politics. The course also aims to give students notions about a relevant part of the history of contemporary philosophy: Ricoeur will be compared with other authors such as Foucault, Castoriadis and Bourdieu.

Programa / Program

1. General introduction to the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur: historical contextualization. From the Philosophie de la volonté (1949) to the Métaphore vive (1975)
2. The project of a hermeneutic phenomenology: Husserl and Gadamer. Heidegger's criticism. The concept of dialectique à synthèse ajournée
3. Introduction to Reading of Soi-même comme un autre (1990). General scheme of the work.
4. Analysis of the VII, VIII and IX study of Soi-même comme un autre.
5. The concept of law in Ricoeur

Bibliografia Obrigatória / Mandatory literature

Ricoeur, P. 1992. Oneself as Another. University of Chicago Press.