Reconciling Virtue and Justice
1. Modern societies are simply too large and operate on the basis of interactions which are too impersonal for it to be possible simply to solve the problems of mass social coordination and justice by referring to the concepts of care and responsibility.
2. The hermeneutic approach is preferable to the solution to this problem, as solving it will inevitably involve confronting a host of highly complex normative situations.
3. Paul Ricoeur's theoretical system combines van Hooft's concepts of "self-project" and "caring-about-others" by considering the social/ethical/organic self, along with its four Aristotelian levels, as a whole which has to be interpreted hermeneutically.
4. Ricoeur sees the fundamental human project as that of self-development, care-focused interpersonal relations, and the creation and maintenance of just institutions. For this, a simple and single existential conception of the self is insufficient.
5. The ethical aim is just this tripartite structure: for Ricoeur its importance is paramount, as it provides content for any successful interpretation of human activity.
6. Such a tripartite aim, in classical moral language, reveals the presence of the virtues of integrity, creativity, sympathy and justice.
7. Tolerance is important for Ricoeur as it is necessary in a society where the adoption of different content to the common forms of self-determination will inevitably result in (sometimes radical) disagreement.
8. The image of the just person on Ricoeur's view is that of a driven, open-minded, confident visionary who sympathises with others and has a respect and reverence for institutions that operate on principles of fairness and equality.
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