The Symbolism of Evil

"According to Ricoeur, the most primal and spontaneous symbols of evil are defilement, sin and guilt ... Ricoeur moves from the elementary symbols of evil into the rich world of myths ... and he ends by suggesting that the clue to the relation between philosophy to mythology is to be found in the aphorism 'The symbol gives rise to the thought' ... Ricoeur's method and argument are too intricate and rich to assess in so short a review. Suffice it to say that this is the most massive accomplisment of any philosopher within the ambience of Christian faith since the appearance of Gabriel Marcel" – Sam Keen, The Christian Century

Paul Ricœur (27 February 1913 – 20 May 2005) was a French philosopher best known for combining phenomenological description with hermeneutics. As such his thought is situated within the same tradition as other major hermeneutic phenomenologists, Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer. In 2000 he was awarded the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy for having "revolutionized the methods of hermeneutic phenomenology, expanding the study of textual interpretation to include the broad yet concrete domains of mythology, biblical exegesis, psychoanalysis, theory of metaphor, and narrative theory."