paul ricoeur, solicitude, love, and the giftTo this he will add the previously mentioned Heideggerian call of
Dasein addressing itself “from the depths of itself, but also from higher
than itself.”^36 He then proposes an understanding of conscience that
melds these two philosophical characterizations:
In the light of these two well-known analyses, conscience appears as the
inner assurance that, in some particular circumstance, sweeps away
doubt, hesitation, the suspicion of inauthenticity, hypocrisy, self-com-
placence, and self-deception, and authorizes the acting human being to
say: here I stand.^37There is also a further reference to conscience’s regenerative powers
and the admission that at such times a human being is not necessarily
in control: “This is something that comes upon us, like a gift, a grace
that is not at out disposal.”^38 It would seem that, in this discussion,
Ricoeur’s portrayal of the moment/movement of conscience is pushing
philosophical reflection as far as it can go. At the same time, he is loath
to make an attribution as to the source of such an inner force. In Oneself
as Another, Ricoeur adamantly refuses to indicate any religious
connections that may be involved. He concludes his particular study
of conscience in this book by a poignant and steadfast reiteration of
his agnostic stance in regard to the wellsprings of conscience:
Perhaps the philosopher as philosopher has to admit that one does not
know and cannot say whether this Other... is another person, whom
I can look in the face or who can stare at me, or my ancestors for whom
there is nor representation, to so great an extent does my debt to them
constitute my very self, or God — living God, absent God, — or an
empty space. With this aporia of the Other, philosophical discourse
comes to an end.^39Thus it appears that while Ricoeur broaches the borders of holy
ground, it remains a space that, insofar as he speaks as a philosopher,
- Ibid. Ibid.
- Ibid. Ibid.
- Ibid., 455. Ibid., 455.
- Ricoeur, Oneself as Another, 355.