Reading Ricœur from the Periphery : Decolonization, Modernity, Hermeneutics / Ernst Wolff, KU Leuven.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wolff, Ernst, Author.

Contributor:

KU Leuven, funder.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (IX, 301 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berlin Boston De Gruyter, [2025]

Language Note:

In English.

Biography/History:

Ernst Wolff, KU Leuven, Belgium.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Endorsements

Contents

Fueling the Conflict of Interpretations

Preface to the English Translation

The Question of the Colonies

Responsibility and Freedom

Resistance and Geopolitics

History, Modernity, Relativism

On the Questions to which Ricœur's Hermeneutics Respond

Human in the Plural. Dialogue Without an Arbiter

Of What is Ricœur the Name?

Preface to the Brazilian translation

Notes:

This eBook is made available Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed December 15 2025)

ISBN:

3-11-221316-5