Paul Ricoeur Quotes
Paul Ricoeur was a French philosopher and one of the great synthesizers of twentieth-century continental thought. Drawing on phenomenology, hermeneutics, structuralism, and analytic philosophy of mind, he produced a long sequence of major works on the symbolism of evil, Freud, narrative and time, the self, memory, and justice. The quotes below are attributed to Paul Ricoeur, organized by topic.
Browse Paul Ricoeur by topic
Paul Ricoeur on Knowledge
-
Attributed to Paul Ricoeur:
“Hermeneutics is the philosophy of interpretation.”
-
“Je suis irrité lorsqu’on me présente comme philosophe protestant, je suis philosophe et protestant. Paul Ricœur : "Je ne suis pas un philosophe protestant" (January 13, 2016)”
I dislike those who present myself as a Protestant philosopher; I am a philosopher and a Protestant.
Paul Ricoeur on Mind
-
Attributed to Paul Ricoeur:
“The shortest path from self to self is through the other.”
-
Attributed to Paul Ricoeur:
“The symbol gives rise to thought.”
-
Attributed to Paul Ricoeur:
“Every action requires a hermeneutics.”
-
“If we go back to the intention [ Marx , Nietzsche and Freud ] had in common, we find in it the decision to look upon the whole of consciousness primarily as "false" consciousness.”
Freud and Philosophy (1970), p. 33
Paul Ricoeur on Time
-
Attributed to Paul Ricoeur:
“Memory is the future of the past.”
-
“I dislike those who present myself as a Protestant philosopher; I am a philosopher and a Protestant.”
Je suis irrité lorsqu’on me présente comme philosophe protestant, je suis philosophe et protestant. Paul Ricœur : "Je ne suis pas un philosophe protestant" (January 13, 2016) -
“The possibility of noncongruence, of discrepancy, in many ways already presupposes that individuals as well as collective entities are related to their own lives and to social reality not only in the mode of participation without distance but precisely in the mode of noncongruence. ... The presupposition here is precisely that of a social imagination, operating in both constructive and destructive ways, as both confirmation and contestation of the present situation.”
p. 3
Paul Ricoeur on Truth
-
Attributed to Paul Ricoeur:
“To narrate is already to explain.”