Introduction to Michel Renaud's "After Paul Ricœur's 'Little Ethics'"

Paul Ric oe ur presents his ethical thoughtin two important texts:first,in studies7, 8, and 9 of Oneself as Another(1990), and eleven years later (2001), in the article, "From the Moral to the Ethical and to Ethics," in Reflections on the Just. As well known, the discussion in Oneself as Another moves from ethics to morality to practical wisdom. The present article emphasizes the implications of Ricoeur's rethinking of this relation in his 2001 presentation. There Ricoeur inverts his order, beginning with the morality of duty, the origin of which must be thought before the ethics of the good life, now called "anterior ethics." Two questions are then posed: what is the basis of duty and obligation, and what is the relationship between practical wisdom and "posterior ethics," the new title given to "practical wisdom"? Lastly, the article incorporates an essential detail Ric oe ur developed in his essay Love and Justice, with a view toward completing his most recent overview of ethics.