Percorsi di pace. Paul Ricoeur tra militanza non violenta e stati di agape

This article analyses Paul Ricoeur’s reflections on the theme of peace across his work. His thought can be articulated in three phases: an initial phase marked by strong pacifist engagement in response to war and international conflict; a second centred on the awakening of consciousness and on peaceful coexistence as a way of affirming difference within a shared humanity; and a third, ethical-political phase, in which peace is conceived as order and harmony within the community, to be secured by the state through the exercise of justice. Against the backdrop of the paradoxes inherent in the political sphere, the article argues that Ricoeur ultimately interprets peace as a condition of gift and as a form of agape capable of generating authentic relations of recognition within communities.