Responsibility and the physical body. Paul Ricoeur on analytical philosophy of language, cognitive science, and the task of phenomenological hermeneutics

0483770 - FLÚ 2018 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Dierckxsens, Geoffrey
Responsibility and the physical body. Paul Ricoeur on analytical philosophy of language, cognitive science, and the task of phenomenological hermeneutics.
Philosophy Today. Roč. 61, č. 3 (2017), s. 573-593. ISSN 0031-8256
Institutional support: RVO:67985955
Keywords : analytical philosophy * body * cognitive science * hermeneutics * phenomenology * philosophy of language * Ricoeur
OECD category: Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology

This article examines Paul Ricoeur's discussion of analytical philosophy of language. I argue that Ricoeur's idea of responsibility is exemplary for understanding this discussion and for understanding how he conceives of the task of phenomenological hermeneutics in relation to analytical philosophy and cognitive science. According to Ricoeur, analytical philosophy of language explains how we use ordinary language for ascribing responsibility to the actions of agents (e.g., X is responsible for giving a speech). I argue that Ricoeur shows that the task of cognitive science is similar: explaining the causal relation between human action and the physical body (e.g., the debate on responsibility and neuroscience). The task of phenomenological hermeneutics consists then, so I aim to demonstrate in line with Ricoeur, in understanding the motives of human action, which implies interpretation of text and of the self 's narrative identity: in narratives we learn the reasons for being responsible, which are not simply identifiable by cognitive science as empirical relations.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0278968