Identidade narrativa e experiência hermenêutica em Paul Ricoeur

Abstract

The present dissertation investigates the extent to which Paul Ricoeur's concept of narrative identity, articulating sameness (memory) and selfhood (promise), contributes to the hermeneutical understanding of the world, of otherness, and of oneself. To achieve this objective, it was necessary to understand the theoretical foundations of the history of hermeneutics; to analyze the relevance of memory for the concept of sameness and of promise for the concept of selfhood in the constitution of the self; to investigate the concept of narrative identity and its contribution to the constitution of the self; and to understand the hermeneutical implications of the autonomy of the text in the construction of meaning. In this way, it was possible to recognize that it is in the interweaving of the concepts of sameness and selfhood, narrative identity, hermeneutical experience, and textual autonomy that one can conceive a hermeneutics of understanding the world, otherness, and oneself, through a critical reflection on the ethical and linguistic challenges present in every act of understanding. Through a qualitative approach, based on the critical analysis of Ricoeur's primary texts and of commentators, the study's results indicate that narrative identity is realized dynamically, enabling the subject to interpret oneself and the other, to establish ethical bonds, and to attribute meaning to human experience. Thus, the dissertation highlights the importance of narrative as a fundamental instrument for the constitution of the self, the understanding of otherness, and ethical reflection, offering a theoretical contribution to the study of language, subjectivity, and contemporary hermeneutics. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]