Hermeneutics of suspicion

The hermeneutics of suspicion is a style of literary interpretation in which texts are read with skepticism in order to expose their purported repressed or hidden meanings.[1]

This mode of interpretation was conceptualized by Paul Ricœur, inspired by the works of what he called the three "masters of suspicion" (French: maîtres du soupçon):[2] Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Friedrich Nietzsche,[3]: 33, 35  who, he believed, shared a similar view of consciousness as false.[4] Ricœur's term "school of suspicion" (French: école du soupçon)[5] refers to his association of his theory with the writings of the three, who themselves never used this term,[6]: 32  and was coined in Freud and Philosophy (1965).[3][6][7]: 2  This school is defined by a belief that the straightforward appearances of texts are deceptive or self-deceptive and that explicit content hides deeper meanings or implications.[1][8]

  1. ^ a b Felski, Rita (2011). "Suspicious Minds". Poetics Today. 32 (2): 215–234. doi:10.1215/03335372-1261208.
  2. ^ Ricoeur, Paul (2013). Le Conflit des interprétations. Essais d'herméneutique. Paris: Média Diffusion. ISBN 978-2-02114500-7. Quote. 1st ed: 1969.
  3. ^ a b Ricoeur, Paul (2008). Freud and Philosophy. An Essay on Interpretation. Denis Savage (transl.). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. pp. 33, 35. ISBN 978-8-12083305-0. 1st ed: 1970.
  4. ^ "The Homme Fatal and the Subversion of Suspicion in 'Mr Brooks' and 'The Killer Inside Me'." AU: UQ.
  5. ^ Ricoeur, Paul (2014). De l'interprétation. Essai sur Freud. Paris: Média Diffusion. ISBN 978-2-02106836-8. Quote. 1st ed: 1965.
  6. ^ a b Ricœur, Paul (2008), p. 32.
  7. ^ Dole, Andrew. 2018. Reframing the Masters of Suspicion: Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud, p. 2.
  8. ^ Robinson, G. D., Paul Ricoeur and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion: A Brief Overview and Critique, University of Toronto Press.