IL MODERNISMO PARADOSSALE
DI PAUL RICOEUR

Johann Michel

The links Paul Ricoeur’s works maintain with modernity cannot be taken for granted. Being deeply immersed in the Judeo-Christian Legacy, wary of abrupt breaks, concerned about embodying the Cogito in existence, his philosophy could be easily associated with a neotraditionalist trend. This anti-modern dimension is strengthened because of the chief place that Ricoeur attaches in his philosophy to the post-modern ways of thinking, whatever inspiration they come from: vitalist, structuralist or post-structuralist. However, the philosopher abandoned neither the emancipatory project, nor the reflexive practice of the Cogito carried by modernity. Therefore, in his works, the subtle and original dialectics of these three philosophical paradigms expresses itself in the way of a paradoxical modernism which can be better understood when it is considered within a political and ethical reformism. Such a point of view is opposed to a praise of tradition as well as to revolutionary outbursts.