Paul Ricoeur was a prolific author. His contributions to philosophy, hermeneutical theology, literary theory, psychoanalysis, ethics, political theory, and so on, span thousands of pages. This may be why some of his earlier work—and his dense but amazingly rich dissertation Freedom and Nature in particular—has not gotten the readership it would clearly merit. Scott Davidson’s A Companion to Ricoeur’s "Freedom and Nature" aims to fill that gap and provide some instruction to lead more scholars to be more knowledgeable of Ricoeur’s crucially important early text that introduces many themes of his later work. . . . Overall, the Companion to Ricoeur’s "Freedom and Nature" is a much needed and welcome contribution that helps in understanding the richness of Ricoeur’s early thought and also its formative role for virtually all of his subsequent work.

Philosophy in Review

Davidson’s volume turns out to be more than a companion to Ricoeur’s Freedom and Nature; it is a sort of referendum on the continued relevance of Ricoeur’s thought to contemporary philosophy. For it not only provides ample resources to understand the arguments in the work, an “internal” interest for scholars of Ricoeur and hermeneutics, each essay also appeals to interests in our broader philosophical discussions. With respect to this latter “external” set of interests, moreover, its goal is not narrowly conceived, since the essays in the volume address ongoing concerns both in Continental philosophy, including discussions of embodiment, habit, life, and subjectivity, and in Anglo- American philosophy, including problems concerning intentionality, embodied-cognition, mindbody dualism, freedom of the will, and responsibility. It would be unreasonable to ask for anything more from a single volume, and the result stands as a tribute to the collective efforts on the part of all the contributors.

Études Ricoeuriennes/Ricoeur Studies

With his usual, gifted editorial acumen, Scott Davidson has drawn together an impressive international group of Ricoeur scholars to help demonstrate the continuing vitality of Ricoeur’s book Freedom and Nature for the 21st century. The present volume is to be commended for its elucidation and deepening of Ricoeur’s themes in Freedom and Nature on their own terms, in relation to Ricoeur’s subsequent corpus, and in dialogue with contemporary scholarly debates.

George H. Taylor, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh

This companion to one of Ricoeur’s earliest and perhaps least accessible works brings together an impressive group of commentators who ably demonstrate the originality and significance of Ricoeur's thought as it bears on traditional and current debates in phenomenology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, and ethics. The companion is not only a guide to an essential and often overlooked text, but it also re-interprets Ricoeur’s philosophical foundations in view of his overall project and how it bears on key convergences in today’s post-continental-analytic milieu.?

Todd Mei, Head of Philosophy, University of Kent, UK