Paul Ricoeur, the French phenomenologist and scholar of hermeneutics, has passed away at age 92. He was a profound and important thinker, especially for those interested in addressing the problem of belief–in the Bible, the reality of evil, the possibility of justice, the meaning of life–in the midst of our skeptical, modern world. Several months back, when Jacques Derrida died, Jim and I ended up writing dueling posts. Perhaps that’ll happen again. I’d certainly be happy if it did, since I’d very much like to read Jim’s assessment of Ricoeur’s work, and perhaps something on its relationship to our own religious concerns. In the meantime, as before, my long, philosophical ramblings have been confined to my own blog; you can read them here. Paul Ricoeur, RIP.
Of course, Russell, we did write dueling posts. I’m up to my eyeballs right now, so I don’t think I’ll have much reflective to say about Ricoeur for a few days, but I agree that he was a profound and important thinker, especially for those who are religious.
You have the time to put up your own Ricoeur post, but you don’t have the time to correct all the substantive errors in mine? Where are your priorities?
In all seriousness, I do hope that you’ll be able to find the time to write something about Ricoeur eventually.
Just a note that I have something on this as well.
Thanks for your contribution, Clark. I wasn’t aware of The Course of Recognition; that looks like a great study. I’ll have to put it on my to-buy list.
I have never heard of this person.
Clark’s post (#3) contains a number of very good links. I highly recommend it.