Between Ideology and Utopia: On Ricoeur’s Ideology, Ethics & Politics

As a prominent philosopher in hermeneutical tradition, Paul Ricoeur is known for his multi-layer thoughtfulness. Published in the 70s, From Text to Action, is among the books identifying Ricoeur’s evolution from textual criticism to ethical activism in politics and philosophy, the 3rd part of which has been translated into Persian in 2016 as Ideology, Ethics & Politics. While Ricoeur in the chapters entitled in this part has critically reviewed philosophers’ thoughts such as Georg Friedrich Hegel, Edmund Husserl, and Max Weber, his points of departure in his philosophical endeavors are traced. Exploring Ricoeur’s thought in general and the book’s main points in particular, the present study attempts to critically review both the text and the translation. In such a critique, Ricoeur’s different philosophical periods besides the core ideas of the book chapters are explored.