ANALYSIS CONCERNING GABRIEL MARCEL'S EXISTENTIALISM

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 19^th 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.”