Following Paul Ricoeur and Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Footsteps: Narrative Identity, Death, and Transcendence

Beatrice Sofia Vitale

Conceptualization

;Maria Begoña Collantes Sanpedro

Conceptualization

;Jorge Benito Torres

Conceptualization

;Vinicio Busacchi

Data Curation

2025-01-01

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Abstract

This issue stems from the international conference Paul Ricœur and Hans-Georg Gadamer: narrative identity, death, transcendence. The conference took place at the Complutense University of Madrid on May 7, 8, and 9, 2024. It was organized by Beatrice Sofia Vitale, María Begoña Collantes Sampedro, and Jorge Benito Torres. The meaning of life has been an unavoidable question throughout human thought. The question of this meaning arises directly from the experience of our mortality, from our condition as vulnerable animals. What meaning are we capable of grasping while dwelling in the midst of this finitude? Are we capable, in some way, of finding a fold or gap through which the light of transcendence can reach us? How do we recognise ourselves through the narratives we construct from this tension between finitude and transcendence? Philosophy has not ignored these questions, and clear examples of this are the proposals of Paul Ricoeur and Hans-Georg Gadamer. As key contributors to this dialogue, their thoughts will allow us to understand and weave together perspectives on narrative identity, death and transcendence as guiding threads. These reflections find refuge in anthropology and philosophical hermeneutics. Philosophical anthropology, which is unique, allows us a variety of styles and interpretations. Illuminating hermeneutic brings us closer to a careful reinterpretation of these questions from a new perspective...