In this series of interviews and dialogues which took place between 1981
and 2003, Paul Ricoeur addresses some of the central questions of
political philosophy and ethics: justice, violence, war, the
environmental crisis, the question of evil, ethical and political action
in the polis. Philosophical issues are brought to bear on present-day
concerns and the practical realities of contemporary politics.
How can the philosopher speak about politics without claiming superior
insight or a higher order of knowledge? Ricoeur distinguishes three
levels of society: 'tools' (modes of production and the accumulation of
technology), 'institutions' (which are tied to national cultures) and
'values' (which claim to be universal). The philosopher's task is to
probe each of these levels and open up spaces for reflection, criticism
and democratic deliberation. It is to explore the paradoxes of the
political rather than invoking certainties dictated by conscience. Just
as there no longer exists a grand narrative about the past, so too there
is no longer any utopia capable of projecting the desired future. What
remains is human creativity, which marks the source common to the
institutional frameworks that are already present and the horizons that
extend beyond them. The philosopher's engagement lies in the promise to
revive this source at the very moment it appears to dry up under the
weight of the real.
This volume of interviews and dialogues with one of the most important
French philosophers of the post-war period will be of interest to anyone
interested in the great political and ethical questions of our time.
