Paul Ricoeur is generally known as a phenomenologist who began his studies with Husserl but who was also deeply steeped in all areas of philosophy, literary theory, theology, hermeneutics, critical theory, and the human sciences such as history, linguistics, politics, and psychology.
In his early work, Ricoeur developed a phenomenology of the human will, published as Freedom and Nature: The Voluntary and the Involuntary (1966). The study of the will is divided into three parts: deciding, acting, and consenting. Ricoeur applied Husserl’s method of pure description to the will. When we say, “I will” we mean, I decide, I act or move my body, and I consent. These are the three modalities of the will that are carefully explored in the text. But Ricoeur also shows that the phenomenon of the will seems to elude the grasp of Husserlian descriptive method. The voluntary seems always already contaminated with the involuntary. Decision and choice are conditioned by motivation, hesitation, and the corporeal involuntary. Acting and moving are conditioned by the forces of bodily spontaneity and effort. And consenting is understood through experienced necessity and refusal.
Selected Readings:
Ricoeur, P. (1966). Freedom and Nature: The Voluntary and the Involuntary. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Ricoeur, P. (1969). The Symbolism of Evil. Boston: Beacon Press.
Ricoeur, P. (1976). Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning. Fort Worth, TX: Texas Christian University Press.
Ricoeur, P. (1983). Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ricoeur, P. (1991). From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics, Vol. 2. London: Continuum.
Ricoeur, P. (1992). Oneself as Another. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.