The Reflexive Method Applied to the Problem of God in Lachelier and Lagneau (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)

An engaging and thought-provoking translation of Paul Ricoeur's earliest work that is essential for understanding his philosophical development The Reflexive Method Applied to the Problem of God in Lachelier and Lagneau, now held in the Ricoeur Archive in Paris, was a qualifying thesis Ricoeur wrote at the age of twenty-one when he was just beginning his advanced university studies.In it he examines the use of the reflexive method used by two important French philosophers from the nineteenth century, Jules Lachelier and Jules Lagneau.They both sought to develop an "integral metaphysics" that recognizes God as the principle underlying pure, impersonal thought and practical reason, and that requires a kind of philosophical faith.In his conclusion, Ricoeur criticizes their doctrine of God and philosophy of immanence for not being able to deal with the question of transcendence and for its failure to address concrete human existence yet concedes that it may be seen as a first truce in "the