Abstract
In his reconsideration of Descartes's “Cogito,” Paul Ricoeur constructs a philosophy of reflection that emphasizes understanding one's subjectivity through the mediation of the other, such as symbols and texts. The introduction of textual mediation means that self-understanding is no longer self-evident; rather, readers encounter a concrete engagement with four types of “distanciation”: between saying and the said, authorial intention and textual meaning, the world of the text and the world of reality, and “moi” and “soi.” Ricoeur assigns a productive and positive meaning to distanciation, establishing methodological practices grounded in existential foundations, linking structuralist linguistics with deep semantics, and outlining methods of belonging to these four levels of distanciation within the text. Through a specific detour in subjective reflection via the mediation of “textual hermeneutics,” Ricoeur responds affirmatively to the thematic challenges of structuralism and postmodernism, such as the dissolution of subjectivity and the decline of meaning.
Keywords
Paul Ricoeur, textual hermeneutics, subjective reflection, distanciation
First Page
35
Last Page
43
Recommended Citation
Hu, Youfeng, and Haixia Zhao. 2025. "Distanciation and Belonging: Paul Ricoeur's Hermeneutic Detour in Textual Interpretation." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 45, (1): pp.35-43. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol45/iss1/4
