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Love and Justice are Compatible ?- In Theory of Paul Ricœur

  • Cross-Cultural Studies
  • 2018, 52(), pp.53-78
  • DOI : 10.21049/ccs.2018.52..53
  • Publisher : Center for Cross Culture Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Literature
  • Received : August 10, 2018
  • Accepted : September 3, 2018
  • Published : September 30, 2018

LEE Kyung-Lae 1

1경희대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

In the moral culture of the West, love and justice are two commands with roots in ancient times. One is the heritage of Hebraism, and the other belongs to the tradition of Hebraism and Hellenism. The two concepts are the most important virtues required for preserving stability in society. These two commands are compatible, in an exclusive relationship to each other. To ultimately seek their reconciliation, the precise concept analysis and understanding of each of them should be premised on, due to the multi-layered meaning of implications of the two concepts. To this end, we first have started with a lexical meaning and have done a conceptual analysis of what these two concepts are expressing. We have looked at Paul Ricoeur in his interpretation of the discourse of love and justice. Finally, we looked at how these two concepts are narrated in literature. Through the literary works of Stendal, Albert Camus, and Dostoevsky, we have seen examples of literary configurations that have been embodied in life. In this way, through conceptual analysis, discourse analysis, and narrative analysis of the two concepts, the following conclusions were drawn. Love and justice were not a matter of choice. We could see coldness and unrealism of a society lacking love or with a problem of unclean love, through Stendhal’s and Albert Camus' novels and their actual debate. In addition, in unclean paternalism, risk of the power of love blocking certain a certain touch of justice was also confirmed. So, it was necessary for a healthy future society to explore the possibility of the coexistence of love and justice. We confirmed the possibility of compatibility in a 'considerate balance' wherein the 'moral judgment in situation' is required, as Paul Ricœur expressed. This ideal situation may be realized when forms of love involving solidarity, mutual care, and compassion with pain like Dostoevsky are combined with the principle of distributional justice. When Albert Camus pursued justice and eventually faced reality and mentioned the need for mercy, he could have made a moral judgment based on this situation. In the end, love protects justice, and justice contributes to the realization of love. Justice reduces super-ethical love to moral categories, and love plays a role in enabling justice to exert its full force.

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