This introductory study surveys the entire range of Ricoeur's work, placing it within the context of post-structuralism. Includes a discussion of Time and Narrative and shows how Ricoeur's work links European and American traditions.

    List of abbreviations; Acknowledgements; 1 Introduction; 2 The existential heritage; Early influences; Husserl and phenomenology; Deferral and eschatology; 3 Finitude and guilt; Fallible man; The primary symbols; Mythology; The recreation of language; 4 Freud and philosophy; The hermeneutics of suspicion; Reading Freud; Lacan and the epistemology of psychoanalysis; Archaeology and teleology; 5 The Hermeneutic turn; Structure; Discourse; Text; Gadamer and Habermas; Ideology and utopia; 6 The rule of metaphor; Structural and semantic approaches; The work of resemblance; Metaphorical reference; Deconstruction and metaphor; Being and act; 7 Time and narrative; Narrativity and order; The aporetics of temporality; Three versions of mimesis; History as narrative and explanation; The limits of narrative; Bibliography; Index;

    Biography

    S. H. Clark

    `Clark does indeed provide an inclusive expository account of the body of Ricoeur's thought, including ample reference to its philosophical sources and theological resonances ... Interweaving exposition and critical comparison, Clark provides a close survey of his subject that will be of special value to those already familiar with post-structuralist theorising.' - David J.Levy, THES

    `Clark does indeed provide an inclusive expository account of the body of Ricoeur's thought, including ample reference to its philosophical sources and theological resonances ... Interweaving exposition and critical comparison, Clark provides a close survey of his subject that will be of special value to those already familiar with post-structuralist theorising.' - David J. Levy, Times Higher Education Supplement