Form and Figure: Paul Ricoeur and the Rehabilitation of Human Work

This article elucidates the metaphorical, as opposed to strictly necessary, nature of work. It utilizes Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutical philosophy relating to the ontological dimension of metaphor. The analysis takes as its starting point the fact that both the word and work are forms of poiesis. Like the word, work has both a literal (necessary) and metaphorical (figurative) function. And like metaphor, work is therefore better understood no longer simply as necessary but as transformative of reality and meaning.