Discourse, Metaphysics, and Hermeneutics of the Self

“Discourse, Metaphysics ,and Hermeneutics of the Self” deals with the connection between the hermeneutics of the self, as constituted in the ethical-anthropological framework of Oneself as Another (1990), and Ricoeur’s conception of a metaphysics of human agency as developed within this period of his work. It relates to his inquiries in the fields of ontology and metaphysics, from the lectures entitled Être, essence et substance chez Platon et Aristote (1953-1954) – translated as Being, Essence and Substance in Plato and Aristotle (2013)—, up to “De la métaphysique à la morale” (1993) published in the Revue de métaphysique et de morale – translated into English as “From Metaphysics to Moral Philosophy” (1996)—, via the article “Ontologie” (1972) for Encyclopaedia Universalis, the last chapter of The Rule of Metaphor (1975), and the first section of the conclusions to the third volume of Time and Narrative (1985). Ricœur aims at determining a specific kind of philosophical discourse as a common ground for the perspectives stemming from a hermeneutic phenomenology and from a more speculative ontological-metaphysical research.