The Abyss of Self and the Indeterminacy de Values: Sartre and Ricoeur

Abstract

The following article is a first attempt to reconstruct Sartre’s and Ricoeur’s theories of value based on its main features, as well as to compare it and to reach some conclusions in regards to Ricoeur’s reception of Sartre. Thus, the task is to fill a gap in contemporary research, since Sartre’s value theory has been rarely examined, while that of Paul Ricoeur continues to be a blind spot within the study of his work; Ricoeur’s Sartre reception has hardly been discussed, but not in an explicit axiological context. In contrast to Françoise Dastur, the following analysis shows that in Le volontaire et l’involontaire Ricoeur does not simply side with Marcel by arguing against Sartre, but that he also tried to mediate between the positions of the two thinkers. Finally, the author shows that Ricoeur’s axiological concept, which emerged from this exchange, was retained partially in his later works precisely in that part, which brings him closer to Sartre and farther from Marcel.