The Anthropology of the Erring Human in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur

Volume 2|Issue 8| Spring 2014 |Articles

Abstract

According to Ricoeur, the central human question concerns the search for the human element in evil and its point of connection with human reality, and he addresses the concept in the beginning of his book Philosophy of the Will. In this study, Aref roots his analysis on Ricoeur’s philosophical thinking, focusing on the theme of fallibility represented in the formative fragility of the human being that allows for the possibility of evil. A reexamination of the concept of fallibility provides the opportunity to research and expand upon the structures of human reality. The binary of the voluntary and the involuntary has returned to its position of a dialectic of greater breadth, governed by thoughts of disproportionality and the binary of the finite and the infinite. It is possible to search for the vulnerability and fragility that humans are composed of within this human specific structure. The attempt to understand the problem of evil via freedom poses a serious challenge, according to Ricoeur, because entering this problem from such a narrow door is a project based on the assumption that “evil is human, quite human.” By exposing the philosophy of Ricoeur, Aref illustrates how human beings may very well be the original root of evil, and that the human recognition of evil reveals how it represents the greatest manifestation of human nature—the recognition of evil and, thus, the recognition of the freedom to choose evil and its responsibility for it. This recognition is what binds humanity to evil; Ricoeur, however, does not consider this point not to be the goal conclusion itself, but the original premise of each approach to evil.

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