By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer

May 21, 2005, 2:39 PM EDT

PARIS -- Paul Ricoeur, a French philosopher whose broad interests included biblical interpretation and the study of human perception, has died. He was 92.

Ricoeur died from natural causes in his sleep overnight at his home in the town of Chatenay-Malabry, west of Paris, his son Marc said Friday.

Born in the southeastern town of Valence, Ricoeur was orphaned at an early age. But he was able to go to school and earned a doctorate at the University of Rennes in western France.

Ricoeur was teaching high school in western France when World War II broke out, and ended up spending most of the war in a German prison camp.

After the war, he held various teaching positions -- including prestigious posts at Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Chicago. He also worked for the elite National Center for Scientific Research, and was active in the Socialist Party.

He was perhaps best known for his work in the field of phenomenology -- the study of how perceptions of events shape a person's reality -- and sought to understand how people could overcome weaknesses and doubts by looking at their spiritual heritage.

"If I had to lay out my vision of the world ... I would say: given the place where I was born, the culture I received, what I read, what I learned (and) what I thought about, there exists for me a result that constitutes, here and now, the best thing to do," he told French daily newspaper Le Monde in January 2004. "I call it the action that suits."

The author of at least 20 books, Ricoeur examined an array of subjects, including guilt and evil, linguistics, psychology, Marxism, religion and the role of ethics in politics.

In November, Ricoeur and U.S. historian Jaroslav Pelikan were each awarded a share of the $1 million Kluge prize, set up in 2003 to honor achievement in fields not covered by the Nobel prizes. He also received the 1939-45 Croix de Guerre medal and the Grand Prize of Philosophy from Academie Francaise in France.

"We lose today more than a philosopher," said Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin in a statement. "The entire European humanist tradition is mourning one of its most talented spokesmen."

Ricoeur left instructions that his funeral be limited to friends and family members, his son said. The date and place were to be made public only after the ceremony.

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Eds: Associated Press Writer Philippe Sotto in Paris contributed to this report.