Philosopher, Christian existentialist, and playwright, born in Paris, France. He travelled widely, and after working as a writer and teacher he devoted himself to philosophy. A convert to Catholicism in 1929, he is now considered as the principal proponent of Christian existentialism, although he personally disapproved of this title. His work is challenging and lucid, accentuating the importance of communication between individuals and between the individual and God. His philosophical writing tends to have a personal, meditative character, as in Journal métaphysique (1927). His work includes Être et avoir (1935), 1951 Le Mystère de l'Etre (1951), and L'Homme problématique (1955). Plays include Un Homme de Dieu (1925, A Man of God) and La Dimension Florestan (1956, The Florestan Dimension).
Gabriel Honoré Marcel (December 7, 1889 Paris – October 8, 1973 Paris) was a French philosopher, a leading Christian existentialist, and the author of about 30 plays.
Marcel obtained the agregation in philosophy in 1910, at the unusually early age of 21.
Marcel was the son of an atheist, and was himself an atheist until his conversion to Catholicism in 1929. Gentle, flexible, and good natured, Marcel was opposed to anti-Semitism and supported reaching out to nonCatholics.
Marcel is believed to have coined the word existentialism some time after the First World War, while he was still an atheist. Marcel came to prefer the label "neo-Socratic". Sartre emphasized people's ability to create themselves with freedom and autonomy, which Marcel viewed as mistaken. Marcel argued that scientific thought had squeezed the life out of human experience, by replacing the "mystery" of being with a false scenario of human life composed of "problems" and "solutions."
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.
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, 1961-62, published as The Existential Background of Human Dignity.
Books by Marcel in English translation
*1950 The Metaphysical Journal. Bernard Wall, trans. The Mystery of Being, Vol.2, Faith and Reality. René Hague, trans. The Existential Background of Human Dignity. Harvard University Press. The Philosophy of Existentialism. Manya Harari, trans.
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