Open AccessThis paper´s aim is to outline the foundation of Paul Ricœur´s ethics, which we believe to be a hermeneutical experience of recognition of existence´s original claim, a thesis that he takes from his master Jean Nabert. Although the question of recognition appears only in the last work of Ricœur, we hold that it is already present since the earliest works, particularly in The Symbolism of Evil, insofar as, through symbolic language, the contrasting experience of evil leads to the whole hermeneutical process of recognition and interpretation of an original affirmation, despite evil. The very theme of man´s capability, including the issue of self-esteem, shall be understood on the basis of this original affirmation, which reveals his plural condition in the plan of responsibility in the context of applied ethics.