Ideology and Utopia in the Twenty-First Century: The Surplus of Meaning in Ricoeur's Dialectical Concep

Abstract

In this paper, I will demonstrate that we can see P. Ricoeur (1913-2005) and Ibn ‘Arabi (1165-1239) as together on metaphor and imagination. For this aim, I will make three Ricoeurian detours: Firstly, I am going to emphasize that “seeing as …” expresses the main point in Ricoeur’s discussion of metaphor. In a Wittgensteinian sense, “seeing-as …” sums up the power of metaphor and helps us to understand the nature of it. In the same way, imagining can be understood seeing as. More importantly, “seeing as …” has ontological status for Ricoeur, because it could be the revealer of a “being-as” on the deepest ontological level. Secondly, I will analyze the concept of imagination in Ibn ‘Arabi. According to him, outstanding feature of imagination is its intrinsic ambiguity, and it needs to be described as ‘neither/nor’ or as ‘both/and’. Metaphor is a peculiar way of thinking in his philosophy. It is a mode of cognition, for it means discovering some subtle features in the metaphysical structure of reality. In the final analysis, it seems to me that both thinkers addresses the creative power of metaphor and imagination. Through “seeing as …”, we can see new aspects of them otherwise be unable to seen.In this paper, I will demonstrate that we can see P. Ricoeur (1913-2005) and Ibn ‘Arabi (1165-1239) as together on metaphor and imagination. For this aim, I will make three Ricoeurian detours: Firstly, I am going to emphasize that “seeing as …” expresses the main point in Ricoeur’s discussion of metaphor. In a Wittgensteinian sense, “seeing-as …” sums up the power of metaphor and helps us to understand the nature of it. In the same way, imagining can be understood seeing as. More importantly, “seeing as …” has ontological status for Ricoeur, because it could be the revealer of a “being-as” on the deepest ontological level. Secondly, I will analyze the concept of imagination in Ibn ‘Arabi. According to him, outstanding feature of imagination is its intrinsic ambiguity, and it needs to be described as ‘neither/nor’ or as ‘both/and’. Metaphor is a peculiar way of thinking in his philosophy. It is a mode of cognition, for it means discovering some subtle features in the metaphysical structure of reality. In the final analysis, it seems to me that both thinkers addresses the creative power of metaphor and imagination. Through “seeing as …”, we can see new aspects of them otherwise be unable to seen.