Ernst Wolff offers an original perspective on Paul Ricœur’s philosophy by situating it in the context of his early socio-political commitments.
The book refutes the common view of this philosophy as an abstract scholarly practice, born in reaction to modernity and secularization, and sets out to reconstruct Ricœur’s involvement in his own time, in the face of the major issues of (de)colonization, geopolitics, modernity, globalization, cultural pluralism and political activism. The book reveals how these concerns influenced Ricœur’s vision of hermeneutics and his philosophical trajectory. Ricœur’s plea for a multipolar world and for the equality of cultural traditions, together with his anti-Eurocentric academic practices are fully explored for the first time. Ricœur’s work is explored not only on his own terms, but also in the light of social scientific research. Moreover, in order to grasp its full implications, Ricoeur’s thinking is compared to that of his African contemporaries.
This is a nuanced and meticulous work that highlights the surprising topicality of Ricœur’s thought and challenges the reader’s views on the nature and possibilities of philosophy.
About the Author :
Ernst Wolff, KU Leuven, Belgium.
Review :
"In this absorbing work, Ernst Wolff remarkably unearths texts that would otherwise have been consigned to oblivion due to their "marginality". However, this marginality is in fact central, and even vital, especially today. The most original aspect of Ricoeur's anti-colonial thinking, revealed in this book, is his critique of nationalism, which I myself experienced in the field while living through decolonial disillusionment (described in my book Désenchantement national). This text strongly resonates with the existential core of my thinking."
--Hélé Béji, author of Nous, décolonisés (Arléa, 2008) and Dommage, Tunisie: La dépression démocratique (Gallimard, 2019)
"With his book, Reading Ricoeur from the Periphery, Ernst Wolff places action and engagement with his times at the heart of Ricoeur's philosophy. If Ricoeur jokingly said of himself that he was textually obsessed, it was in order to respond to the challenges of the present day, with the intention of taking the risk of commitment in the name of discernment. It is to this essential point - which is anything but peripheral - that Ernst Wolff's book does justice."
--François Dosse, author of the biography Paul Ricoeur - Les sens d'une vie (1913-2005) (La Découverte, 2008, 2nd edition)
"The intellectual history of anti-colonial thinking is much richer than what is being debated as post-colonialism today. This fascinating book offers not only a highly original interpretation of what motivated Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutical philosophy, but also opens up prospects for a fruitful cross-cultural dialogue today."
--Hans Joas, Humboldt University, Berlin, and Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago
"Wolff's Reading Ricoeur from the Periphery is available in English translation at last. In this important book, Wolff demonstrates the extent to which Ricoeur's philosophical and ethical concerns were shaped by his sustained engagement not just with the intellectual and philosophical milieu of post-1945 France, but specifically with the French colonial situations of the 1940s and 1950s with which he engaged directly. This aspect of Ricoeur's work has remained hidden for too long: Wolff enables us to rethink his philosophical thought as emerging from a political context that hitherto appeared to have passed him by. Across six beautifully crafted chapters, Wolff offers new insights into the pivotal aspects of Ricoeur's philosophical vision, prompted by the injustices and conflicting demands of French colonial politics."
--Robert JC Young, Julius Silver Professor of English and Comparative Literature, New York University
