Zwischen Verdacht und Vertrauen: Das "dialektische Spiel" von Paul Ricœurs Hermeneutik
Between Suspicion and Trust: The "Dialectical Game" of Paul Ricoeur's Hermeneutics

Summary/Abstract: Too often associated with suspicion rather than trust, Ricoeur's hermeneutics is understoodby many primarily as a critical endeavor. In this way, the fragile balance that he is tryingto maintain between the two approaches is ignored. The objective of the following studyis, by means of Ricoeur's "dialectical game of suspicion and trust", to elucidate the complexity of his hermeneutics and to demonstrate that trust is as pivotal as suspicion. At thedifference of some authors who maintain that trust and suspicion are opposed, even mutuallyexclusive approaches of two kinds of hermeneutics, it will be shown that Ricoeur hasdeveloped a single hermeneutics which encompasses both approaches and explores themon different levels (epistemological, anthropological, ethical, sociopolitical). In the limitednumber of contributions dedicated to Ricoeur's concept of trust, these different levels arefrequently conflated, whereby the relationship between religious belief and trust/mistrustis completely ignored. Consequently, the divergent perspectives of his early and late philosophical work, as well as certain discontinuities, are overlooked. Therefore, this studyplaces a central emphasis on the neglected religious level of suspicion and trust.

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