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<p>This article argues that compromise requires a distinctive form of imaginative work—one that bears striking resemblance to the creative processes underlying metaphorical innovation. This connection is explored through Paul Ricoeur’s philosophy, whose theory of productive imagination provides compelling resources for reconceptualizing compromise as a creative ethical practice. Taking as its point of departure Ricoeur’s 1991 assertion that “the primary lack is always a lack of imagination” in matters of compromise, the paper demonstrates that compromise relies on similar processes to those of metaphor—both maintain a tension between reproduction and production, absence and presence, difference and similarity. Through the analysis of Ricoeur’s distinctive use of visual schemas and his account of semantic innovation, it is shown that metaphorical imagination offers interpretive and ethical resources that can deepen and renew our understanding of the roles compromise plays in social and political life.</p>

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The inventiveness of compromise: Paul Ricoeur and the productive power of metaphor

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月8日

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  • Laure Gillot-Assayag

摘要

This article argues that compromise requires a distinctive form of imaginative work—one that bears striking resemblance to the creative processes underlying metaphorical innovation. This connection is explored through Paul Ricoeur’s philosophy, whose theory of productive imagination provides compelling resources for reconceptualizing compromise as a creative ethical practice. Taking as its point of departure Ricoeur’s 1991 assertion that “the primary lack is always a lack of imagination” in matters of compromise, the paper demonstrates that compromise relies on similar processes to those of metaphor—both maintain a tension between reproduction and production, absence and presence, difference and similarity. Through the analysis of Ricoeur’s distinctive use of visual schemas and his account of semantic innovation, it is shown that metaphorical imagination offers interpretive and ethical resources that can deepen and renew our understanding of the roles compromise plays in social and political life.