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'''[[Paul ]] Ricœur''' ([[February 27]], [[1913]], [[Valence, Drôme|Valence]] – [[May 20]], [[2005]], [[Chatenay Malabry]]) was a [[French people|French]] [[philosopher]] best known for combining [[phenomenology|phenomenological]] description with [[hermeneutics|hermeneutic]] [[interpretation]]. As such, he is connected to two [[other ]] major hermeneutic phenomenologists, [[Martin Heidegger]] and [[Hans-Georg Gadamer]].

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 [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] in 1934, where he was influenced by [[Gabriel Marcel]]. In [[1935]] he [[agrégation| agrégated]] second in the [[nation]], presaging a bright [[future ]] despite his provincial origins.

[[World War II|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]] who organized readings and classes sufficiently rigorous that the camp was accredited as a degree-granting institution by the [[Vichy]] [[government]]. During this [[time ]] he read [[Karl Jaspers]], who was to have a great influence on him. He also began a [[translation ]] of [[Edmund Husserl]]'s ''[[Ideas ]] I''.

After the war Ricœur took up a [[position ]] at the [[University of Strasbourg]] ([[1948]]-[[1956]]). 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]], whose popularity in France had begun during the 1930s and increased during and after the war.

In [[1956]] Ricœur took up a position at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] as the [[Chair ]] of General Philosophy. This appointment signaled Ricœur's rise as one of France's most prominent [[philosophers]]. During this time he wrote ''Fallible Man'' and ''The [[Symbolism ]] of [[Evil]]'' published in 1960, and ''[[Freud ]] and Philosophy: Essays on Interpretation'' published in 1965. These works cemented his reputation.

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 its over-crowded classes 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.

At the nadir of his popularity and disenchanted with [[life ]] in France, Ricœur taught at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and also 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]]: Multi-disciplinary Studies of the Creation of [[Meaning ]] of Language'' published in 1975 and the [[three]]-volume ''Time and [[Narrative]]'' published in 1984, 1985, and 1988. 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]]" published in 1992.

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]].

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".

== [[Bibliography ]] ==

* Gabriel Marcel and Karl Jaspers. ''[[Philosophie ]] du mystère et philosophie du paradoxe''. Paris: [[Temps ]] Présent, 1948.* ''[[Freedom ]] and [[Nature]]: The Voluntary and the Involuntary'', trans. Erazim Kohak. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1966 (1950).* ''[[History ]] and [[Truth]]'', trans. Charles A. Kelbley. Evanston: Northwestern University press. 1965 (1955).

* ''The [[Conflict ]] of [[Interpretations]]: Essays in [[Hermeneutics]]'', ed. Don Ihde, trans. Willis Domingo et al. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1974 (1969).

* ''The Rule of Metaphor: Multi-Disciplinary Studies in the Creation of Meaning in Language'', trans. Robert Czerny with Kathleen McLaughlin and John Costello, S. J., [[London]]: Routledge and Kegan Paul 1978 (1975).* ''Interpretation [[Theory]]: [[Discourse ]] and the [[Surplus ]] of Meaning''. Fort Worth: Texas [[Christian ]] Press, 1976.* ''The Philosophy of Paul Ricœur: An Anthology of his Work'', ed. Charles E. [[Reagan ]] and David Stewart. Boston: Beacon Press, 1978.* ''[[Theology ]] after Ricouer'', Dan Stiver, Westminster: John Knox Press* ''Hermeneutics and the [[Human ]] [[Sciences]]: Essays on Language, [[Action ]] and Interpretation'', ed., trans. John B. Thompson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

* ''Lectures on [[Ideology ]] and Utopia'', ed., trans. George H. Taylor. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985.* ''From [[Text ]] to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics II'', trans. Kathleen Blamey and John B. Thompson. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1991 (1986).

* ''Oneself as Another'' (''Soi-même comme un [[autre]]''), trans. Kathleen Blamey. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992 (1990).* ''A Ricœur Reader: [[Reflection ]] and [[Imagination]]'', ed. Mario J. Valdes. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.

* The Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur. The [[Library ]] of [[Living ]] Philosophers (edited by L.E. Hahn), 1995.

* Essays on [[Biblical ]] Interpretation. Paul Ricouer. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980.