Gabriel Marcel

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Gabriel Marcel, 1951 (credit: H. Roger-Viollet)

(born Dec. 7, 1889, Paris, France — died Oct. 8, 1973, Paris) French philosopher, dramatist, and critic. His philosophical works explore aspects of human existence (e.g., trust, fidelity, hope, and despair) which had traditionally been dismissed as unamenable to philosophical consideration. His use of phenomenology was independent of the work of Edmund Husserl, considered the founder of the phenomenological movement. Marcel was the first French proponent of existentialism.

For more information on Gabriel-Honoré Marcel, visit Britannica.com.

French philosopher Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973) described man's place in the world in terms of such fundamental human experiences as relationships, love, fidelity, hope, and faith. His brand of existentialism was said to be largely unknown in the English-speaking world, where it was mistakenly associated with that of Jean-Paul Sartre. Marcel's view of the human condition was that "beings" are beset by tension, contradiction and ambiguity. He was also interested in life's religious dimension and was considered the first French existentialist philosopher.

Gabriel Marcel was born in Paris on Dec. 7, 1889, the only child of a distinguished diplomat. His mother died when he was 4, and he was raised by an aunt whom his father married. Although he had little visual memory of his mother, Marcel described her continued "spiritual presence" during his youth as an important influence on his thoughts - giving rise to an awareness of the "hidden polarity between the seen and the unseen." At the age of 8 he began writing plays, and as an adult he would achieve a reputation as a playwright as well as a philosopher. Marcel's plays, which flesh out the basic issues of his philosophy, were performed in the early 1920s. Starting in his youth he also displayed a keen ability to play music - an avocation which would also influence his thinking.

Moved Away From Traditional Philosophy

Marcel received his degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne in 1910 and married professor Jacqueline Boegner in 1919. Together they adopted a son, Jean. Marcel lived and taught for a time in Switzerland, where he began writing his Metaphysical Journal (1927). The journal reflects a movement away from traditional academic philosophy and was influenced by Sören Kirkegaard, in whom Marcel was deeply interested. In some ways, the book is overlooked in serious examinations of Marcel. Another publication from Marcel's diaries was Being and Having (1935).

Developed "Spirit of Abstraction"

During World War I Marcel was a Red Cross official whose job was obtaining news of wounded and missing soldiers and contacting their relatives. These intensely demanding encounters with people were a living source of Marcel's highly concrete and personalistic philosophy, and of his lifelong suspicion of what he called the "spirit of abstraction."

During the war Marcel wrote his thorough study of the American philosopher Josiah Royce, Royce's Metaphysics (1956), and taught at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris. He taught philosophy at the University of Sens (1919-1923) and then returned to Paris, where he continued his philosophy research, wrote plays, and contributed to leading periodicals as both a philosopher and a theater critic.

Converted to Catholicism

Marcel's philosophy was always preoccupied with the religious dimension of life, but his upbringing had been religiously agnostic (uncertain as to whether one can really know that God exists), and he was not formally a believer. In 1929, however, an open letter from the distinguished French Catholic writer François Mauriac challenged Marcel to admit that his views suggested a belief in God. His subsequent conversion to Catholicism gave a new dimension to certain aspects of his philosophy. But he remained a strikingly independent thinker whose ideas were formed before his conversion - and as such could be regarded as important indicators of certain Godly aspects of the human experience. Marcel became a leader in French Catholic intellectual circles, and his Paris home was the locale for stimulating discussion among leading European intellectuals of all persuasions.

Was Compared to Sartre

During World War II Marcel lived in Lyons. After the war he lectured in France and other countries. Following the war his "Christian existentialism" aroused sharp contrasts between his work and the atheistic existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre. Marcel was fond of improvising at the piano throughout his adult life, but it wasn't until 1945 that - with his wife's encouragement - he undertook to write formal compositions. His wife died in 1947. Marcel continued his creative endeavors, however, as well as teaching and traveling.

Late in life Marcel became associated with Moral Re-Armament, which he discussed in Fresh Hope for the World: Moral Re-Armament in Action (1960). Among his chief philosophical works are The Mystery of Being (1951); the Gifford Lectures for 1949-1950 at the University of Aberdeen; Homo Viator (1951); Man Against Mass Society (1951); Being and Having (1957); The Existential Background of Human Dignity (1963); and the William James Lectures at Harvard for 1961-1962.

At the Frankfort Book Fair in 1964, Marcel received major international recognition in the form of the German Peace Prize. He died in Paris on Oct. 8, 1973.

Marcel's essential dramatic and philosophical insights can be summarized in the difference between a problem and a mystery. He believed that once a problem is solved it is dismissed from consciousness, whereas a mystery always remains alive and interesting. Problems, Marcel believed, are resolved using "primary reflection" - which is abstract, analytical and objective. Mysteries, on the other hand, are approached with "secondary reflection," which concerns itself with deeper personal insights.

Along with Martin Buber, Marcel is one of the founders of 20th-century dialogue-oriented I-Thou philosophy.

Other philosophical writings of Gabriel Marcel include: The Philosophy of Existence (1948); The Decline of Wisdom (1955); Philosophical Fragments (1965); The Funeral Pyre (1965); Searchings (1967); Problematic Man (1967); Presence and Immortality (1967); Tragic Wisdom and Beyond; Including Conversations Between Paul Ricoeur and Gabriel Marcel (1973); and The Participant Perspective: A Gabriel Marcel Reader (published 1987).

Dramatizations include: Three Plays: (A Man of God, Ariadne,. The Votive Candle) (1965); Double Expertise (translated to English, 1985); and Fanal: Two Plays by Gabriel Marcel (translated to English, 1988).

Further Reading

Further information on Marcel is in Vincent Miceli, Ascent to Being: Gabriel Marcel's Philosophy of Communion (Desclee, 1965); Seymour Cain, Gabriel Marcel (Hillary House, 1963); Sam Keen, Gabriel Marcel (John Knox Press, 1967); Kenneth T. Gallagher, The Philosophy of Gabriel Marcel (Fordham University Press, 1962); Clyde Pax, An Existential Approach to God: A Study of Gabriel Marcel (Martinus Nijhoff, 1972); François Lapointe, Gabriel Marcel and His Critics (Garland Pub., 1977); Hilda Lazaron, Gabriel Marcel the Dramatist (Smythe, 1978); Joe McCown, Availability: Gabriel Marcel and the Phenomenology of Human Openness (Scholars Press for the American Academy of Religion, 1978); Neil Gillman, Gabriel Marcel on Religious Knowledge (University Press of America, 1980); Pietro Prini, Gabriel Marcel (Economica, 1984); Paul Arthur Schlipp and Lewis Edwin Hahn, eds., The Philosophy of Gabriel Marcel (essays) (Open Court Publishing Co., 1984); A.J.L. Busst, ed., French Literature and the Philosophy of Consciousness: Phenomenological Essays by Ian W. Alexander (University of Wales Press, 1984); Ved Prakash Gaur, Indian Thought and Existentialism: With Special Reference to the Concept of Being in Gabriel Marcel and the Upanisads (Eastern Book Linkers, 1985); Katharine Rose Hanley, Dramatic Approaches to Creative Fidelity: A Study in the Theater and Philosophy of Gabriel Marcel (University Press of America, 1987); David Applebaum, Contact and Attention: The Anatomy of Gabriel Marcel's Metaphysical Method (Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology, 1987); Donald Traub, Toward a Fraternal Society A Study of Gabriel Marcel's Approach to Being, Technology and Intersubjectivity (P. Lang, 1988); Mary D. Howland, The Gift of the Other: Gabriel Marcel's Concept of Intersubjectivity in Walker Percy's Novels (Duquesne University Press, 1990); Denis P. Moran, Gabriel Marcel: Existentialist Philosopher, Dramatist, Educator (University Press of America, 1992); and Gerald Hanratty, Studies in Gnosticism in the Philosophy of Religion (Four Courts Press, 1997).

The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas-Austin, maintains seven boxes of archival documentation related to Marcel. They are available to researchers.

The following are scholarly articles on Gabriel Marcel: Thomas C. Anderson, "The Nature of the Human Self According to Gabriel Marcel" Philosophy Today (Winter 1985); Joseph Godfrey, "Appraising Marcel on Hope" Philosophy Today (Fall 1987); Preston Browning, "Walker Percy and Gabriel Marcel: The Dialectical Self in The Moviegoer" Renascence (Summer 1988); Thomas Michaud, "Secondary Reflection and Marcelian Anthropology" Philosophy Today (Fall 1990); and Danne W. Polk, "Gabriel Marcel's Kinship to Ecophilosophy" Environmental Ethics (Summer 1984).

Marcel, Gabriel (1889-1973). Christian philosopher, drama and music critic, and playwright. Marcel's independent thinking anticipated and influenced the development of existential phenomenology in France. Concerned with the mysteries of incarnated being and of ‘being-with-others’, Marcel attempted to recover, through a higher-order reflection, the immediacy of concrete experiences such as those of existing, possessing, and belonging (Être et avoir, 1918-33), and of fidelity, hope, and anxiety (Homo viator, 1945). His earlier plays dramatized the psychological aspects of metaphysical and spiritual tensions (Un homme de Dieu, 1925); he later explored their more ideological implications (Rome n'est plus dans Rome, 1951).

— Rhiannon Goldthorpe

Marcel, Gabriel (1889-1973) French Christian existentialist. A Catholic convert, Marcel disliked this label, but his meditations upon the central concepts of the Christian life have a characteristic existentialist flavour. His emphasis on the personal nature of ‘mystery’ as opposed to the external nature of mere problems has had some influence in religious circles. His works include Être et avoir (1935), trs. as Being and Having (1949), The Mystery of Being (1951), the transcription of his Gifford lectures at Aberdeen, and The Existentialist Background to Human Dignity (1963), the transcription of his William James lectures at Harvard.

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Gabriel Marcel

Western Philosophy 20th-century philosophy
Full name	Gabriel Marcel
Born	7 December 1889 Paris, France
Died	8 October 1973 Paris, France
School/tradition	Continental philosophy/Existentialism
Main interests	Ontology · Subjectivity · Ethics
Notable ideas	"the Other"
Influenced by Kierkegaard · Mauriac · Royce
Influenced Levinas · Wahl · Ricoeur

Gabriel Honoré Marcel (7 December 1889, Paris – 8 October 1973,^[1] Paris) was a French philosopher, a leading Christian existentialist, and author of about 30 plays. He focused on the modern individual's struggle in a technologically dehumanizing society. Though often regarded as the first French existentialist, he dissociated himself from figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre. The Mystery of Being is a well-known multivolume work authored by Marcel. In addition to being a playwright and philosopher, Marcel was also a music critic.

Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Existential themes 3 Influence 3.1 Main works 4 See also 5 Books by Marcel in English translation 6 Footnotes 7 External links

Early life and education

Marcel obtained the agrégation in philosophy in 1910, at the unusually young age of 21. He taught in secondary schools, was a drama critic for various literary journals, and worked as an editor for Plon, the major French Catholic publisher.

Marcel was the son of an atheist, and was himself an atheist until his conversion to Catholicism in 1929. Marcel was opposed to anti-Semitism and supported reaching out to non-Catholics.

Existential themes

He is often classified as one of the earliest existentialists, although he dreaded being placed in the same category as Jean-Paul Sartre; Marcel came to prefer the label "neo-Socratic" (possibly because of Søren Kierkegaard, the father of Christian existentialism, who was a neo-Socratic thinker himself). While Marcel recognized that human interaction often involved objective characterisation of "the other", he still asserted the possibility of "communion" - a state where both individuals can perceive each other's subjectivity.

In The Existential Background of Human Dignity, Marcel refers to a play he had written in 1913 entitled Le Palais de Sable, in order to provide an example of a person who was unable to treat others as subjects.

Roger Moirans, the central character of the play, is a politician, a conservative who is dedicated to defending the rights of Catholicism against free thought. He has set himself up as the champion of traditional monarchy and has just achieved a great success in the city council where he has attacked the secularism of public schools. It is natural enough that he should be opposed to the divorce of his daughter Therese, who wants to leave her unfaithful husband and start her life afresh. In this instance he proves himself virtually heartless; all his tenderness goes out to his second daughter, Clarisse, whom he takes to be spiritually very much like himself. But now Clarisse tells him that she has decided to take the veil and become a Carmelite. Moirans is horrified by the idea that this creature, so lovely, so intelligent, and so full of life, might go and bury herself in a convent and he decides to do his utmost to make her give up her intention... Clarisse is deeply shocked; her father now appears to her as an impostor, virtually as a deliberate fraud...^[2]

In this case, Moirans is unable to treat either of his daughters as a subject, instead rejecting both because each does not conform to her objectified image in his mind. Marcel notes that such objectification "does no less than denude its object of the one thing which he has which is of value, and so it degrades him effectively."^[3]

Another related major thread in Marcel was the struggle to protect one's subjectivity from annihilation by modern materialism and a technologically-driven society. Marcel argued that scientific egoism replaces the "mystery" of being with a false scenario of human life composed of technical "problems" and "solutions". For Marcel, the human subject cannot exist in the technological world, instead being replaced by a human object. As he points out in Man Against Mass Society and other works, technology has a privileged authority with which it persuades the subject to accept his place as "he" in the internal dialogue of science; and as a result, man is convinced by science to rejoice in his own annihilation.^[4]

Influence

For many years, Marcel hosted a weekly philosophy discussion group through which he met and influenced important younger French philosophers like Jean Wahl, Paul Ricoeur, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Marcel was puzzled and disappointed that his reputation was almost entirely based on his philosophical treatises and not on his plays, which he wrote in the hope of appealing to a wider lay audience. Albert Camus and Sartre were far more successful in translating their philosophical concerns into appealing literature.

Main works

His major books are Mystery of Being (1951), the Gifford Lectures for 1949-50, and Man Against Mass Society (1955). He gave the William James Lectures at Harvard in 1961-62, which were subsequently published as The Existential Background of Human Dignity.

See also

• Christian existentialism
• Existentialism
• Personalism

Books by Marcel in English translation

• 1950. The Metaphysical Journal. Bernard Wall, trans. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company.
• 1951. The Mystery of Being, Vol. 1, Reflection and Mystery. G. S. Fraser, trans. London: The Harvill Press.
• 1951. The Mystery of Being, Vol. 2, Faith and Reality. René Hague, trans. London: The Harvill Press.
• 1962. Man Against Mass Society. G. S. Fraser, trans. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company.
• 1962. Homo Viator. Edna Craufurd, trans. Harper & Row.
• 1963. The Existential Background of Human Dignity. Harvard University Press.
• 1964. Creative Fidelity. Translated, with an introduction, by Robert Rosthal. Farrar, Strauss and Company.
• 1967. Presence and Immortality. Michael A. Machado, trans. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.
• 1967. Problematic Man. Brian Thompson, trans. New York: Herder and Herder.
• 1973. Tragic Wisdom and Beyond. Stephen Jolin and Peter McCormick, trans. Publication of the Northwestern University Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, ed. John Wild. Northwestern University Press.
• 1995. The Philosophy of Existentialism. Manya Harari, trans. New York: Carol Publishing Group.

Footnotes

1. ^ Gabriel (-Honoré) Marcel, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'
2. ^ The Existential Background of Human Dignity, pp. 31-32.
3. ^ Homo Viator, p. 23.
4. ^ Ballard, Edward G. (1967), "Gabriel Marcel: The Mystery of Being", in Schrader, George Alfred, Jr., Existential Philosophers: Kierkegaard to Merleau-Ponty, Toronto: McGraw-Hill, pp. 227 

External links

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Gabriel (-Honoré) Marcel -- by Brian Treanor.
• The Gabriel Marcel Society
• Gabriel Marcel's Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin

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