Book excerpt: Paul Ricoeur (1913-) is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Chicago and Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences at the University of Paris X, Nanterre. One of the foremost contemporary French philosophers, his work is influenced by Husserl, Marcel and Jaspers and is particularly concerned with symbolism, the creation of meaning and the interpretation of texts. The Conflict of Interpretations ranges across an astonishing diversity of fields: structuralism, linguistics, psychoanalysis, religion and faith. The essays it comprises are bound together by Ricoeur's customary concern for interpretation and language and all bear the stamp of the systematic and critical thinking which has become his hallmark in contemporary philosophy. Edited by Don Ihde>