Ricoeur and the Power of Symbolic Representation Between Concealment and Revelation

This paper investigates the hypothesis that it is particularly in the field of symbolic interpretation that, in Ricoeur, the intertwining of philosophical reason and religious faith remains strong and proves fruitful without one discourse cancelling out the other. The interest in Ricoeur’s hermeneutics of symbols is reinforced by the fact that it seems to be a privileged field for evaluating the productivity of philosophical work in the service of religion and religious work for the benefit of philosophy. Moreover, his research gives shape to a specific philosophy of the symbol and of symbolic creativity, which finds its deepest and most meaningful expression precisely in the field of the hermeneutics of revelation.