GABRIEL MARCEL'S EXISTENTIALISM
Bonjour to everyone! Hello Guys and Gals!
It is a pleasure to speak in front of these wonderful and fine classmates and
teachers of mine. As a start, would all of you please lend me your eyes and
ears? Not for me but, for the man that I will discuss. Let me ask you a question first, how many of you thinks that we are free and existing? Apparently, we think that we are but let's find out.
It is true that we are embracing technology today
yet, this modernized method alienates us. We are being isolated by the objects
around us but then we are not aware of it. Fortunately, there is man from the
19th century of contemporary philosophy that stood up against
alienation. His philosophy has built a stronghold about the real essence of
existence that we should always summon up.
Biography: Who is Gabriel Marcel?
Let us start with this, in Paris year 1889 there was
a man born to be a unique philosopher that everyone would never forget. He is an offspring of a French diplomat and
of his mother. Living life’s reality, his mother died when he was still four years
old. Despite of that, he pursued to finish education and began teaching
philosophy at age of 26 years old, even though his main profession is more of a
drama critic and editor. This man is also a World War 1 non-combatant veteran.
During that time, he became more attached to philosophy, making him realize the
fundamental human experiences regarding hope, freedom, fidelity and
relationships that became primary themes of his discipline. He is often
compared to Jean-Paul Sartre because their philosophy is alike. Yet, on 1928,
the most important chapter of his life made him and his ideology exceptional.
It is when he converted into Catholicism that enabled him to attach Godly
aspects on his works. That event enabled him, the first French existentialist,
Gabriel-Honore Marcel to come up with theistic existentialism.
Gabriel Marcel’s Philosophy and Analysis
So what is theistic existentialism all about? At
first, Marcel was inclined with the thought of death because of his exposure in
WW1. Until one day, he became a bridge from Sartre’s atheism to Søren
Kierkegaard’s theism. His philosophical works such as Mystery of Being proposed
that philosophy and faith are both factors that analyze the real essence of
existence. As a result, Marcel sought to connect his philosophical beliefs to
his faith. And to do that he looked for something that the people must work on
to experience existence, it is freedom.
Based on Marcel's concept of existentialism, we
should live with an essence and value by means of freedom. Yet, freedom was
robbed by objectivism. But what is
freedom? Marcel stated that freedom is a strange inner mutation that is
spreading throughout humanity.
Peculiarly, this mutation is produced by the
awareness that makes up the foundation of our existence. Man thought that he exists
but if we are to look for a deeper meaning or value, he is not. He rather
believes that the things surrounding him can make his life more meaningful or
valuable. This belief made Marcel say that man entered a state where they
became in greed of possession. Through these venues, meaning is forced in to
life. Even more, individuals begin to believe that their lives have worth
because they are tied to these things, these objects. Thus, it creates a
situation in which individuals experience the self only as a statement, as an
object. Human believed that “I am x,” where x stands for nothing or undefined.
Marcel became worry that someday due to technology
and modern science, human’s life will be defined based on their functions. The occurrence
of factory workers leads human to be objects without dignity. He is valued not how
he relates to others or to God but based on how well the machine was operated
and that is not existence at all.
Another factor that affects our existence is
participation. According to him,
the body does not have instrumental value, nor is it simply a part or extension
of the self. It is our active participation that prevents us to categorize
ourselves as objects and which brings us into relationships with others. But
what we see now is the opposite. Because of abstraction of objectivity,
existence became worthless.
Nowadays,
people believe that we are in need of money and objects in order to have a
significant role in the society. We think that material possessions represents
our social status, it separates riches from poor. Because of this, we depend more
on object for our experiences. For example, some politicians became
materialistic and are greed of having luxurious life. They take some of the
public funds in order to raise their salary and give themselves happiness. Yet,
this happiness is only temporary and blinds their consciousness towards
responsibility. Thus, it cuts their connection, respect and trust from the
mass.
So as a solution, Gabriel Marcel conceptualized
primary and secondary reflection in order to make human realize how reflection
can change their perspectives in life. Primary reflection explains the
relationship of an individual to the world based on her existence as an object
in the world, whereas secondary reflection takes as its point of departure the
being of the individual among others. On the other hand, understanding of one’s
being is only possible through secondary reflection, since it is a reflection
whereby the self asks itself how and from what starting point the self is able
to proceed.
For example, we are asked to describe person,
then by primary reflection we can describe he or she by considering his name,
height, weight or complexion but if we are to use secondary reflection we can
answer the question by unifying the idea that he or she is a person who have a
unique personality among others. To explain it further, primary reflection is more
on what is outside and dissolves an idea into pieces while secondary reflection
looks for a more subjective definition. By these methods, we can prevent
alienation to occur and will help maintain good relationship to others.
"The
wise man knows how to run his life so contemplation is possible." -
Gabriel Marcel
In
life we have the power to control our own, so it depends on us if we will
assert or neglect the choices that we have. Yet, if we are able to successfully
observe ourselves then we can say that we exist. The quote says that we can
only experience life if we are aware of our real value and purpose. And we can
only know our real purpose through Jesus Christ. If we will be able to
recognize ourselves we can achieve freedom. And if we achieved this freedom, we
can be able to have faith as well.
Conclusion:
To sum it up, Gabriel Marcel’s existentialism can
serve as a solution to how we should live our lives. Nevertheless, his
philosophy lets us feel our freedom within ourselves through the help of active
participation and reflection. Another thing
that we should absorb from his philosophy is that a people-God relationship
leads to a better people-people relationship. And the best thing we should
never forget is how faithful this man is. We should also live the reality that,
in order to say that we exist we must have faith in God rather than physical
objects in this world.
So to end this, I would like to leave this quote,
“Existence is a mystery of which man is aware that he is not living for himself
only but for others and for God who values him.”
