Beginning with Sigmund Freud, the relationship between philosophy and psychoanalysis has been complicated, falling short of its mutually enriching potential. In his entire oeuvre, Paul Ricoeur made a sustained effort to construct an innovative bridge of linguistic-based alignment and connection between philosophy and psychoanalysis. This volume is intended to build that bridge and to contribute to a long overdue dialogue. The contributing authors, as practicing psychoanalysts, take elements of Ricoeur's thought, in order to elucidate points of convergence and/or divergence with Ricoeur's thinking, to sharpen psychoanalytic conceptualization, and to enrich clinical reflection.
Ricoeur's engagement with the Freudian opus was a vehicle for his philosophical anthropology; his emphasis was on the future orientation of imagination and the power of the possible. He both embraced and challenged the Freudian legacy. Over the last sixty years, psychoanalysis has slowly moved in the direction of broadening analytic theory, but the impact of Ricoeur's challenging commentary is still in evolution. As analysis develops towards places Ricoeur elucidated, as these chapters suggest, the connections will be clarified and the two may finally be brought into a fruitful conversation.