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1
GABRIEL MARCEL ON LOVE AS THE RESTORATION
OF THE BROKEN WORLD
A THESIS
PRESENTED TO
THE FACULTY OF THE SAINT THOMAS OF
VILLANOVA INSTITUTE
QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF ARTS, MAJOR IN PHILOSOPHY
POSTULANT ALLAN MARTIN ABAO DOSDOS II
FEBRUARY 2014
2
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
The nature and meaning of love is one of the
thinking and life. This is to be expected for, after
all, philosophy is a form of love.
instance, we read of his reflection on the nature of
on the nature of love, claiming that it is a search
for man’s alter ego in order to be whole again.
man does not yearn for the half of the whole unless
perpetually.
eros of the Greeks but of the love of neighbor and
happiness.
4
he does not he is a living dead. For him, the telos
of love is always good since it is an act, and every
law of divine love is the standard of all human
actions; in other words, an act of love that is not
happiness and will only be limited to temporal joys.
soul.
phenomenon of the ‘broken world’.
6
cause of the alienation of man since it is the realm
Marcel is of two kinds: the alienation of man from
1
Victor F. Gonzaga, Gabriel Marcel: Man’s Alienation in the
Broken World (Quezon City: Saint Thomas of Villanova Institute,
2000).
2
Jaime Silvestre C. Parmisano, Gabriel Marcel on Hope as a
Possible Response to the Broken World (Quezon City: Saint Thomas
of Villanova Institute, 2012).
7
of man is not hopeless however. Through love man can
man to see others as human beings who are more than
their functions or any superficial attributes.
how it can possibly save man from his condition in
of participation.
and remain superficial and vain. If he has hope, man
world.
without love.
3
Sam Keen, Gabriel Marcel (Richmond: John Knox Press,
1967), 33.
9
B. Statement of the Problem
ruins the being of man and turns him into a mere
according to the number of goods he is able to
produce and the services he can offer to society. Man
is just a tool for the attainment of society’s goals.
in order to love; all that is needed is for man to
poorer.”
of this study is to delve into his views as it
strives to answer the following questions:
world?
2. How does man overcome the broken world?
man’s overcoming of the broken world?
love is the key to the restoration of the broken
human, where he is reduced to an object or thing and
his value is measured in terms of his function. Love
11
his humanity is affirmed and he is thereby able to
others.
C. Significance of the Study
machine or robot.
happens in the modern society.
problems, but it can help us make sense of life.
existentialism and spiritual advancement.
13
D. Scope and Limitation
study.
topic and his ideas on how to overcome such a world
the role of love in the restoration of the modern
world.
E. Methodology and Framework
14
through library research and from online journals.
dealt with in this study. This as well includes the
the problem, thesis statement, and method.
dissolves both participation and availability.
love. It explains what authentic love is and how it
“I and Thou”.
of the study.
16
Chapter II
NOTION OF THE BROKEN WORLD
A. The Broken World
and it was used to describe the reality of human
of her lines. She says:
4
Gabriel Marcel, “The Broken World,” in Perspectives on the
Broken World, trans. Katharine Rose Hanley (Milwaukee: Marquette
University, 1998), 3142.
5
Ibid., 14.
18
Marcel admits that no one can be sure of the
started, saying “it would be rash to attempt to put
one’s finger on some epoch in history when the unity
of the world was something directly felt by men in
7
general.” He speculates though on the biblical
account of the Fall of man:
6
Remigio Mollaneda, Concrete Approach and Therapeutic
Activity (Manila, Arnoldus Press, Inc.), 35.
7
Gabriel Marcel, Reflection and Mystery, trans. G.S. Fraser
(Indiana: St. Augustine’s Press, 2001), 22.
19
suggests that the broken world is due to man’s doing.
8
Ibid., 34.
9
Keen, 9.
20
trapped in a utility which is superficial.
negative condition:
cannot help calling up for the reader in the first
Regnery Company), 41.
21
leads to despair since man loses his sense of being
11
Ibid., 42.
12
Vincent P. Miceli, Ascent to Being (Belgium: Desclee
Company, 1965), 81.
22
tendency to think of other humans as means. This is
degraded when he is “treated as an object to be
13
Ibid.
23
they are more than functions. It also does not help
man to be human for as Sam Keen writes, “Nor can
contemplating his concrete and lived experience.
14
Mollaneda, 35.
15
Sam Keen, Gabriel Marcel, 1112.
24
of the mind to set aside the other aspects of the
which are necessary if an envisaged result is to be
16
obtained.” The mind, however, can lose awareness of
16
Marcel, Man against Mass Society, 155.
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid.
25
a person who is a laborer. If he is seen only as a
becomes easy for him to be abused or taken advantage
subjectivity is taken for granted.
explains why:
to be defined by his function, even as he looks at
as such, it does not foster the importance of human
in community.
Harper Torchbook, 1965), 20.
27
effect much production, and to do both of these with
20
high efficiency. This functionalization of man is
parallel to what Karl Marx () depicted in his attack
others and even from himself.
eliminate him.
20
Miceli, 77.
Gabriel Marcel, The Philosophy of Existentialism (New
21
York: Carol Publishing Group, 1995), 10.
28
He does not deny that man has to perform many
to despair because he will appear to himself only as
hopes, and loves.
man who is worth plenty of money, the man whose
B. The Loss of the Ontological Sense
satisfied by the world. Man feels the loss of his
function:
equated with the value of his function. He has no
this is so, “Life in a world that is centered on
man’s loss of a sense of himself as human:
isolation.
C. The Loss of an Authentic Human Relationship
25
Keen, 10.
32
person. In other words, the way people now deal with
one another in the broken has become devoid of the
sense of human touch.
situation of man with other human beings is not the
to organic human institutions of society.
gratification.
broken world.
27
Cf. Joe McCown, Availability: Gabriel Marcel and the
Phenomenology of Human Openness (Montana: Scholar Press), 11.
28
Ibid.
34
blinds man to see the others’ dignity and worth. As
worry for one’s own security is afraid to lose his
loving the other.
29
Ibid., 11.
35
of a subject “I” to an object “It”.
and not being.
10, 3 (1966), 206.
36
simply tries to fit the other person into his mental
categories. Marcel explains:
31
Gabriel Marcel, Being and Having trans. Katherine Farrer,
169.
37
capitalists.
tempts him to love only himself. If ever he engages
in a relationship with others, he is not able to do
so because he is clouded by selfish intention to use
Marcel elaborates:
the other. The lack of access gives rise to the
be happy alone without the other. So the proud man
others and so the proud man is not effective in the
community.
32
Marcel, The Philosophy of Existentialism, 32.
39
Chapter III
CONCEPT OF LOVE
A. Phenomenology of Love
33
life.” A man need not be intelligent or rich to talk
about love – it is constitutive of his being and is
teacher to teach, or the heroic deed of the national
negatively.
the phenomenology of love:
As soon as we treat love as a phenomenon we
are obliged to account for it in terms of
attraction, or affinity — that is to say in
terms of a relation between universals that
34
fail to become explicit as universals.
33
Manuel B. Dy, Jr., “A Phenomenology of Love,” in
Philosophy of Man: Selected Readings (Quezon City: Goodwill
Trading Co., Inc., 1986), 219.
34
Marcel, Metaphysical Journal, 233.
41
relationship. He writes, “But what do we mean by not
35
Sam Keen, Gabriel Marcel, 25.
36
Dy, 6,
37
Marcel, Metaphysical Journal, 233.
42
secondary reflection.
38
Marcel, Metaphysical Journal, 233.
39
William A. Luijpen, O.S.A, Existential Phenomenology
(Louvain: Duquesne University Press, 1960), 215.
43
God and hence not subject to the canons of logic or
40
rationality.” In the philosophy of Marcel, however,
it with the concept of problem:
one who confronts the problem is not an issue. For
him that needs to be overcome by some technique. The
40
Keen, 20.
41
Marcel, Being and Having, 117.
44
solutions.
the subject or the one asking the question cannot be
excluded. The issue is not just the problem or the
also an issue. For example, if someone will ask me
about my faith in God, I do not just give theories
himself from.
45
not affect him in any way. When a person talks about
love his own experience of love comes to the surface.
a man of his lost watch he expected to be in his
42
Cf. Mystery of Being, 7778.
46
towards this sort of small break in the daily chain
43
of habit.” It is different from any other type of
givenathand and not questioning things anymore.
attention and concern.
43
Ibid., 78.
44
Ibid.
45
Ibid.
47
life and its significance. He alludes to the idea of
of an airman might say in wartime that she is not
46
really living while his son is risking his life.
“[I]t seems to me essential that we should grasp the
fact that reflection is still part of life, that it
is one of the ways in which life manifests itself,
or, more profoundly, that it is in a sense one of
47
life’s ways of rising from one level to another.”
46
Cf. Ibid., 8182.
47
Ibid., 82.
48
consciousness and knowledge.
48
Ibid., 83.
49
Keen, 18.
49
man it fails to see the true value of man. Richard
Kearney explains why:
reflects on his life he is not just dealing with a
50
Richard Kearney, ed., TwentiethCentury Continental
Philosophy (London: Routledge, 1994), 135.
50
his life. Kearney elaborates:
leads the person to treat his body as an object, a
51
Ibid.
52
Marcel, Mystery of Being, 92.
51
makes his body appear as though it is just “one body
Brombert point out, “the body is neither an object nor
54
an empiric reality.”
of the incarnation it is incorrect for man to treat
53
Ibid.
54
Louis Pamplume and Beth Brombert, “Gabriel Marcel:
Existence, Being, and Faith,” Yale French Studies, no. 12 (1953),
91.
55
Marcel, Being and Having, 1112.
52
being. It is not entirely correct to say that “I have
a body” because in some real sense “I am my body.”
McCown explains that saying “‘I am my body’ is the
56
denial of the gap between ourselves and our bodies.”
object, he is also able to see other bodies not as
the bond which unites us to our bodies is one with
essentially in relation with his fellowmen.
point below:
words, love cannot be known in the fullness of its
58
Frederick Copleston, A History of Philosophy XI (London:
British Library, 2008), 168.
59
Marcel, Metaphysical Journal, 62.
54
detached from the experience of the lover.
person as it were; it will be a conditional form of
be attractive or appealing to me. On the other hand,
B. Authentic Human Relationship
Marcel conceives human life as essentially a
60
William Ernest Hocking, “Marcel and the Ground Issues of
Metaphysics,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 14, no. 4
(June 1954), 464.
61
Luijpen, 223.
62
Marcel, Tragic Wisdom and Beyond, 253.
56
destroyed by the broken world, and how it can be
restored in the same broken world. The key to its
discussed.
to the presence of the other and not a gaining of
63
access to the possession of the other. It is a way
who is ready for anything is the opposite of him who
63
McCown, 10.
57
greater than he is, but which at the same time he
64
makes his own.”
him and makes the other appear as a detriment to his
others, he must not be too centered on himself, his
not look at the other like an object that must meet
or live up to his own expectations such that if the
other were otherwise he is to be rejected. Keen puts
64
Homo Viator, 2425.
65
Keen, 34.
58
broken world.
is ruled by desire.
the other for what he is, to be open or available to
receive the mystery of his own self. In an authentic
66
Ibid., 33.
67
Metaphysical Journal, 223.
59
For the other person is no longer measured in terms
of his or her functions or usefulness to my needs,
own unique being.
This is not an easy thing to accomplish in the
are highly valued in the broken world is hard to
unlearn. It is not easy to be available and to love
68
Keen, Gabriel Marcel, 34.
60
69
determined result of processes and forces.” It is an
essential part of the being human and yet it is not
Koren clarify this point:
69
William A. Luijpen and Henry J. Koren, Existential
Phenomenology (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1969), 101.
70
Ibid., 173.
71
Ibid.
61
To love is to say “yes” to the appeal of the
response:
of but an actor in a relationship.
73
Ibid., 177.
63
74
McCown, 43.
75
Ibid.
64
“It”, which is the usual kind of relationship in the
relationship is no longer valued or preserved.
76
Keen, 29.
77
Ibid.
65
persons, a real dialogue of two persons who recognize
78
each other’s true value.
Chapter IV
CONCLUSION
78
Ibid.
66
mere agglomeration of functions.
that the existence of the other has nothing to do
selfsufficient monad.
Marcel posits love as the salvation of man. The love
that Marcel speaks of is the love of an “I” for a
(the lover) to see the other as another person (the
that love is possible if the other is approached as a
even to an idea according to fixed categories of the
68
wealth of his or her being.
lover does not look at or measure the beloved as an
relation between persons.
to the other. By disposing oneself to include the
other in his life, a person begins to see the other
equal to himself in dignity. The other is seen as a
69
a subject like himself.
can be overcome. Love opens the eyes and heart of a
with others in the world and therefore meant to be a
Love brings out the mystery that is the other; love
appeal to me – an appeal that demands my positive
response to act for his good. Love is what restores
70
beings to find their meaning and fulfillment.
Bibliography
Primary Source:
Marcel, Gabriel. Being and Having. Translated by
Katherine Farrer. New York: Harper and Row,
1965.
________. Homo Viator. Translated by Emma Craufurd.
United States of America: Harper Torchbook,
1962.
________. Man against Mass Society. Chicago: Henry
Regnery Company, 1952.
________. Metaphysical Journal. Translated by Bernard
Wall. London: Rockliff, 1952.
________. Mystery of Being, Volume I. Translated by
G.S. Fraser. Indiana: St. Augustine’s Press,
2001.
________. Perspectives on the Broken World.
Translated by Katharine Rose Hanley. Milwaukee:
Marquette University, 1998.
71
________. The Philosophy of Existentialism. USA:
Carol publishing Group, 1995.
________. Tragic Wisdom and Beyond. Evanston:
Northwestern University, 1973.
________. “Surmounted Solipsism.” Philosophy Today
10, no.3 (1966): 204211.
Secondary Source
Text Book:
Collins, James. The Existentialists. Chicago: Henry
Regnery, 1952.
Copleston, Frederick. A History of Philosophy XI.
London: British Library, 2008.
Glendinning, Simone. The Idea of Continental
Philosophy. Great Britain: Edinburgh University
Press, 2006.
Kaufmann, Walter. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to
Sartre. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company,
1956.
Keen, Sam. Gabriel Marcel. Richmond: John Knox Press,
1967.
Luijpen, William. Existential Phenomenology. Louvain:
Duquesne University Press, 1960.
72
Unpublished Works (Thesis):
Gonzaga, Victor. Gabriel Marcel: Man’s Alienation in
the Broken World. Quezon City: Saint Thomas of
Villanova Institute, 2000.
Parmisano, Jaime Silvestre. Gabriel Marcel on Hope as
a Possible Response to the Broken World. Quezon
City: Saint Thomas of Villanova Institute, 2012.
General Reference:
Kearney, Richard, ed. Routledge History of
Philosophy VIII. New York: Routledge, 1998.