Identidade pessoal e ética em Paul Ricoeur: da identidade narrativa à promessa e à responsabilidade

Abstract

This paper presents the problem of personal identity in the light of Paul Ricœur’s theories in Time and Narrative and Oneself as Another. This work also discusses briefly the philosophical positions that affirm what Ricœur characterizes as identity: the permanence in time (sameness), contrary to the identity that is changeable and diverse over time (ipseity), which is in line with his thesis of narrative identity. Then the limitation of the narrative is examined so as to account for the problem of personal identity before the possible “erasure” of the self in the narrative field and his/her maintenance in the ethical field with the concept of promise. Finally, this paper discusses the approximation which Ricœur appraises of the concept of promise as speech act and as the power of promise, and the relation to the concept of responsibility that results from that.