Basic full complex-argument Laguerre-Gauss wave

The introduction provides an overview of Ley’s life and importance. It also presents a complex argument about the key features of romantic, popular science during the twentieth century. The section makes interdisciplinary connections between German and American romantic science, popular science, and media studies, while providing a brief introduction to Ley, his legacy, and the themes of the book.

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Paul Ricoeur on Evil

Shadow Sophia ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198843467.003.0003 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 38-59

Author(s):

Celia E. Deane-Drummond

Keyword(s):

Paul Ricoeur ◽

Western Culture ◽

Sharp Separation ◽

Scientific Explanations ◽

Complex Argument ◽

Symbolic Thought ◽

Paul Ricœur ◽

Dialectical Relationship ◽

Philosophical Understanding

Paul Ricoeur represents an important source in Western culture who refuses to adopt a sharp separation between humanity and the rest of nature, while recognizing the importance of human distinctiveness. This chapter will engage Ricoeur’s works, beginning with Freedom and Nature, where he emphasizes the preconditions for human sin and the distinctions between scientific explanations and philosophical understanding. Another work, Fallible Man, distinguishes between the finite and infinite and describes the preconditions for human sin. Here, Ricoeur takes steps to fill in the gap between what he terms the pathétique of misery and the transcendental. He resists the idea that the source of evil arises directly from animal passions, but presents a more complex argument related to the force of what he terms ‘the fault’. In The Symbolism of Evil, Ricoeur further describes his recognition that the Fall of humanity admits a voluntary quality to specifically human sin; therefore, guilt is distinct from suffering. Ricoeur’s interpretation of the significance and problematic nature of Augustine’s account of the Fall is instructive in this respect. How far is the explicit human propensity for sin also dependent on prior language and symbolic thought? Ricoeur’s thought also frames the discussion that follows as a dialectical relationship between the natural propensity for evil and its voluntary, symbolic/semiotic character.

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