Paul Ricœur (1913-2005)

Abstract

The paper gives an overview of the life and work of a world-known French philosopher, written on the occasion of his recent death. Ricœur was a follower of the traditions of existentialism and personalism. Later he accepted the phenomenological method which he applied first on the acts of will and later also on the acts of apprehension and speech. This leads phenomenology as far as to hermeneutics. Only a man or woman of parts, who were forgiven, are really acting persons. The phenomenology of a guilty person becomes the phenomenology of a person in parts, culminating in the ontology of action which is the core of Ricoeur’s philosophy of life and his personal engagement.