«Il sogno impossibile di combinare il gerarchico con il conviviale». Paul Ricoeur e il «paradosso politico»

[Autom. eng. transl.] Starting from some personal and historical experiences lived in first person, Paul Ricoeur has been questioning himself since the 1950s on the theme of power (an "ontological-fundamental" moment). He proposes a phenomenological analysis of the political question which highlights its paradoxicality: on the one hand it is a necessary element for order - to overcome individual wills in the direction of a common will -, on the other hand it is constantly at risk of degeneration and abuse - through the monopoly of the use of force and the tendency to totalitarianism - (phenomenological moment). This paradox is interpreted on an anthropological level within the structure of effort and desire of man and on an ontological level in the conception of being as an act-power (hermeneutic moment). Philosophy finds fulfillment in the "poetic" or "phronetic" moment whose task is to find answers to the paradox in order to make possible the "impossible dream" of combining the vertical-hierarchical element with the horizontal-convivial element. In this perspective, the category of recognition, the final vanishing point of the author's thought, is capable of shedding a light of hope on the phenomenon of power (phronetic / poetic moment). In conclusion, some considerations are advanced regarding the decisive role of the categories of trust and gratitude and, ultimately, the re-emergence of the relationship between theological and political.