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Fallible Man: Philosophy of the Will
The most accessible of Ricoeur's early texts, Fallible Man offers an introduction to phenomenological method.
"This is the second work in the trilogy collectively known as The Philosophy of the Will. It introduces the all-important concept of "fault" and fallibility, and is thus necessary to our understanding of Ricoeur's The Symbolism of Evil. Clearly the most accessible of Ricoeour's early texts, Fallible Man offers us insight into the nature of fallibility. This revised translation is greatly enhanced by a lengthy and invaluable introduction [by Walter J. Lowe].
"This is the second work in the trilogy collectively known as The Philosophy of the Will. It introduces the all-important concept of "fault" and fallibility, and is thus necessary to our understanding of Ricoeur's The Symbolism of Evil. Clearly the most accessible of Ricoeour's early texts, Fallible Man offers us insight into the nature of fallibility. This revised translation is greatly enhanced by a lengthy and invaluable introduction [by Walter J. Lowe].
- GenresPhilosophy
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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About the author
Paul Ricœur
310 books456 followersPaul Ricoeur (1913–2005) is widely recognized as one of the most distinguished philosophers of the twentieth century. In the course of his long career he wrote on a broad range of issues. His books include a multi-volume project on the philosophy of the will: Freedom and Nature: The Voluntary and the Involuntary (1950, Eng. tr. 1966), Fallible Man (1960, Eng. tr. 1967), and The Symbolism of Evil (1960, Eng. tr. 1970); a major study of Freud: Freud and Philosophy: An Essay on Interpretation (1965, Eng. tr. 1970); The Rule of Metaphor (1975, Eng. tr. 1977); Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning (1976); the three-volume Time and Narrative (1983-85, Eng. tr. 1984–88); Lectures on Ideology and Utopia (1986); the published version of his Gifford lectures: Oneself as Another (1990, Eng. tr. 1992); Memory, History, Forgetting (2000, Eng. tr. 2004); and The Course of Recognition (2004, Eng. tr. 2005). In addition to his books, Ricoeur published more than 500 essays, many of which appear in collections in English: History and Truth (1955, Eng. tr. 1965); Husserl: An Analysis of His Phenomenology (1967); The Conflict of Interpretations: Essays in Hermeneutics (1969, Eng. tr. 1974); Political and Social Essays (1974); Essays on Biblical Interpretation (1980); Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences (1981); From Text to Action (1986, Eng. tr. 1991); Figuring the Sacred: Religion, Narrative, and Imagination (1995); The Just (1995, Eng. tr. 2000); On Translation (2004, Eng. tr. 2004); and Reflections on the Just (2001, Eng. tr. 2007).
The major theme that unites his writings is that of a philosophical anthropology. This anthropology, which Ricoeur came to call an anthropology of the “capable human being,” aims to give an account of the fundamental capabilities and vulnerabilities that human beings display in the activities that make up their lives. Though the accent is always on the possibility of understanding the self as an agent responsible for its actions, Ricoeur consistently rejects any claim that the self is immediately transparent to itself or fully master of itself. Self-knowledge only comes through our relation to the world and our life with and among others in that world.
In the course of developing his anthropology, Ricoeur made a major methodological shift. His writings prior to 1960 were in the tradition of existential phenomenology. But during the 1960s Ricoeur concluded that properly to study human reality he had to combine phenomenological description with hermeneutic interpretation. For this hermeneutic phenomenology, whatever is intelligible is accessible to us in and through language and all deployments of language call for interpretation. Accordingly, “there is no self-understanding that is not mediated by signs, symbols, and texts; in the final analysis self-understanding coincides with the interpretation given to these mediating terms” (Oneself as Another, 15, translation corrected). This hermeneutic or linguistic turn did not require him to disavow the basic results of his earlier investigations. It did, however, lead him not only to revisit them but also to see more clearly their implications.
The major theme that unites his writings is that of a philosophical anthropology. This anthropology, which Ricoeur came to call an anthropology of the “capable human being,” aims to give an account of the fundamental capabilities and vulnerabilities that human beings display in the activities that make up their lives. Though the accent is always on the possibility of understanding the self as an agent responsible for its actions, Ricoeur consistently rejects any claim that the self is immediately transparent to itself or fully master of itself. Self-knowledge only comes through our relation to the world and our life with and among others in that world.
In the course of developing his anthropology, Ricoeur made a major methodological shift. His writings prior to 1960 were in the tradition of existential phenomenology. But during the 1960s Ricoeur concluded that properly to study human reality he had to combine phenomenological description with hermeneutic interpretation. For this hermeneutic phenomenology, whatever is intelligible is accessible to us in and through language and all deployments of language call for interpretation. Accordingly, “there is no self-understanding that is not mediated by signs, symbols, and texts; in the final analysis self-understanding coincides with the interpretation given to these mediating terms” (Oneself as Another, 15, translation corrected). This hermeneutic or linguistic turn did not require him to disavow the basic results of his earlier investigations. It did, however, lead him not only to revisit them but also to see more clearly their implications.
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December 27, 2014لأول مرة تعجبني مقدمة كتاب ما !
بعض المفردات صعبة التفسير و الفهم اذا لم تكن لديك معلومات مسبقة عن الفلسفة و مفرداتها
ما يعني إن الانسان خطاء ؟!
امكانية الشر المعنوي منقوشة داخل تكوين الإنسان بهذا اختصر محتوى الكتاب
لا بأس به رغم ما أصابني من دوار و انا اقرأ !
بعض المفردات صعبة التفسير و الفهم اذا لم تكن لديك معلومات مسبقة عن الفلسفة و مفرداتها
ما يعني إن الانسان خطاء ؟!
امكانية الشر المعنوي منقوشة داخل تكوين الإنسان بهذا اختصر محتوى الكتاب
لا بأس به رغم ما أصابني من دوار و انا اقرأ !
July 23, 2015
A little waystation between Freedom & Nature and the Symbolism of Evil.
August 22, 2025
فيما يبدو لي الكتاب ثري للغاية ولكن سوء الترجمه وعدم ترابط الجمل المترجمه أفسد على المؤلف مادته مع الأسف ..
المحاولة الثانيه لفك الرموز كانت فاشله كذلك 😅
المحاولة الثانيه لفك الرموز كانت فاشله كذلك 😅
June 14, 2022
It was a sufferable reading. A few illuminating ideas do not make up for an unsatisfying argumentation in a heavy Kantian imitative style.
December 9, 2025
Que livro péssimo. Pouquíssimas ideias muito mal argumentadas. É fenomenologia em sua forma mais pobre. Além de ser uma bagunça.
August 31, 2013
Another very important book by Paul Ricoeur. Introduces the notion of "second naiveté" which is essential to recovering any authentic mythic/mystical approach to Christianity in the age of empiricism.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews