L’unité d’une vie, d’un enseignement, d’une œuvre

This essay offers a personal account of the author’s friendship and collaboration with Paul Ricœur in the last years of his life. Catherine Goldenstein, who, after Ricœur’s death, took care of his manuscripts and organized the archives of the Fonds Ricœur, reflects on her conversations with the philosopher. Their contents, recorded as she remembers them, illuminate Ricœur’s philosophical endeavors and his work as an academic instructor. Ricœur is also viewed through the testimony of letters addressed by him to the author, through his personal notes, and through the events of his academic career. These perspectives combine to offer a concise and challenging vision of a life devoted to reflection, whose ultimate boundary is a reality we do not know directly: that of eternity.