The destruction of the illusions of consciousness

psychoanalysis as language theory

pp. 26-32

in: Domenico Jervolino, The cogito and hermeneutics, Berlin, Springer, 1990

Abstract

That Ricoeur should choose a methodic hermeneutics is, we feel, closely related to his conception of the subject and his on-going efforts to transform the philosophy of the Cogito into a hermeneutics of the I am. His decision to come to terms with the human sciences, making the most of their contributions and accepting the risks involved in the application of their various methodologies without any prior safeguards for the sanctuaries of the ego, consciousness or even faith, is ultimately motivated, we feel, less by evaluations relative to keeping pace with a cultural fashion than by a deep confidence in mankind and a sincere concern for human needs and sufferings, in sum, by a genuine "pietas erga homines."