Paul Ricoeur’s Renewal of Philosophical Anthropology

Vulnerability, Capability, Justice

Marc de Leeuw author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Lexington Books

Published:15th Nov '21

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Paul Ricoeur’s Renewal of Philosophical Anthropology cover

In Paul Ricoeur’s Renewal of Philosophical Anthropology: Vulnerability, Capability, Justice, Marc de Leeuw contextualizes Ricoeur’s work in the largely forgotten tradition of philosophical anthropology. In the book, de Leeuw shows how the original diagnosis of the human as suffering from a primordial deficiency, lack, or “wounded cogito” becomes the main motivation for Ricoeur’s phenomenological and hermeneutic renewal of this tradition. Ricoeur thereby connects the human ability for self-expression with our capability to speak, act, narrate, remember, and be held accountable. De Leeuw argues that through the poetic and ethical reconfiguration of our experiences a reflexive selfhood emerges, one able to attest to whom it “stands for,” thereby replacing the traditional anthropological question “what is the human?” with “who is the human?”

In times of climate change, viral emergency, and democratic crisis, the "question of the human” is more important than ever. How does our philosophical self-understanding match the urgent need to re-evaluate our relation to the planet, nature, and each other? Paul Ricoeur’s complex exploration of the vulnerable but capable human helps us formulate an answer. Paul Ricoeur’s Renewal of Philosophical Anthropology shows that Ricoeur’s affirmative anthropology not only renews the tradition of philosophical anthropology but also reveals its ongoing relevance for our human self-understanding.

"Marc de Leeuw’s expansive study offers a timely account of the ethical resonances of Paul Ricoeur’s philosophical anthropology. Through tracing the development of Ricoeur’s thought through many of his major works, de Leeuw lays out formative ideas that figure prominently in Ricoeur’s conception of the capable human being."

-- Roger W. H. Savage, University of California, Los Ang

ISBN: 9781498595582

Dimensions: 238mm x 159mm x 22mm

Weight: 494g

216 pages