From Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka's eco-phenomenology to Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutics

the role of the human being in the global context of cosmos, chaos and evil

Lafuente Cecilia Lafuente

pp. 191-216

in: William S. Smith, Jadwiga Smith, Daniela Verducci (eds), Eco-Phenomenology, Berlin, Springer, 2018

Abstract

The recently widespread term "eco-phenomenology', following from the concept of Ecology, leads science and philosophy to reformulate the link between the human being and the rest of beings and the cosmos in general. Nevertheless, a clear opposition arises between scientific-objective procedure, centered on causal laws, on the one hand, and the phenomenological approach, focused on intentionality and consciousness, on the other. Some authors suggest that the field of eco-phenomenology could help to elaborate a middle ground between intentionality and causality. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka develops this middle ground. Always interested in scientific fulfillment, she centered her Philosophy of Life and the Cosmos on her concept of "Ontopoiesis", which is a fundamental key to understanding her perspective on eco-phenomenology. "Imaginatio Creatrix" points to the creativity implied in all processes of life and especially in the work of human imagination in inventing "possible worlds". However, it is Paul Ricoeur's task to explore the content of mythical narratives in order to go from the products of symbolic imagination to an interpretative hermeneutics that takes into account the genesis of evil – and good – its possible end, and the human role in the entire global process.

Cited authors

Ricoeur Paul

Tymieniecka Anna-Teresa