I – Thou Relationship in Gabriel Marcel: an Existentialist Analysis
Chapter One
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Today, we are living in the midst of irrationalism and inconsistency as witnessed in many areas of life: such as the families, marriages and other aspects. As a result, it seems the center can no longer hold. It is, therefore, the purpose of this ground project to remould and re-evaluate most of our ideas in contemporary and existential issues, as mentioned above, using Gabriel Marcel’s “I-thou” authentic existence as a firm edifice. It equally suggests ways of being meaningfully and creatively responsible in our affairs with the other while not seeking utilitarian satisfaction from a relationship. Minds are strengthened up following this work on what real friendship should be while advocating for a committed and sacrificial union with the other.
CHAPTER TWO
MARCEL’S SIGNIFICANT I-THOU
EXISTENTIALIST’S APPROACH TO I-THOU.
Existentialism has appeared as a philosophical reaction against the scientific humanism that prevailed in the early part of the nineteenth century.1 One could be correct not to call it a philosophy, but a type of philosophy. It is so flexible that it appeared widely in differing forms, such as the atheism of Sartre, the Catholicism of Marcel, the Protestantism of Kierkegaard, the Judaism of Buber and the orthodoxy of Berdgaeu.2 The term “Existentialism” is more often used as a general name for a number of thinkers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who made the concrete individual central to their thought. Just for this confidence, Omoregbe titled existentialism, ‘the most influential philosophical movement in this century’3 and suggest that it is better to describe it as a movement rather then as a school. In a broader sense, it arose as a backlash against philosophy; such a relational critique on traditional philosophy that exalts the individual by concentrating on the profundity and potentialities of human action and dynamism. Hegel’s abstractions and absolute idealism accord no importance to the individual man and the concrete realities of existence. Thus, the existentialists made the individual man and his life experience, the central point of their philosophy in order to bring philosophy down to earth and make it bear on concrete human experiences.
Two main levels or thoughts of existentialist (philosophy) may be distinguished as follows: first, the religious (theistic) as delineated by the father of existentialism, Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1853), Marcel (1889-1973) and Karl Jaspers of (1883-1969). The second is the atheistic as expounded by its most articulate contemporary spokesmen J.P. Sartre and Hiedgger who seem to be a “Vagus” in the classification of tenets. Significantly, what runs through in both lines of thought is their firm believe in human action and dynamism. That is the meaning of Hiedgger’s “togetherness,” Jaspers’ communication and Marcel’s – Buber’s “Thou.” The main themes of existentialist philosophy are all drawn from human experiences.4 Existentialists generally reflect on, and write about the same themes on various aspects of human experience such as: man and the world, the others, authentic and inauthentic existence, freedom and choice, responsibility with commitment. These atheists and theists agreed that traditional philosophy was too academic and remote to have any adequate meaning for life.
From this vantage point of view, let us now delve into the approach of these existentialists’ thinkers towards “I-Thou.” In the philosophy of Heidegger, man, Dasein is continually in advance of himself. Man for him is “being” in the world who stands the chance of realizing himself in relation with-other things and persons. He goes further, to explain that:
Man exists as a ‘being’, who is necessarily preoccupied or concerned with the others.5
Following this Heideggerian line of thought, it then implies that man realizes his own possibilities and constitutes the world as a meaningful system of objects standing in intelligible relations to one another and to man himself.6 The individual comes to discover himself as an individual subject only as a ‘being’ in relation with other person. He advocates social interdependence; according to him:
CHAPTER THREE
OTHER ASPECTS OF I-THOU.
The part of the distinctive character of Marcel’s existentialism can be derived from the pre-eminence he confers upon the factors of faith (fidelity), hope and love. The above factors have fundamentally ontological functions despite their theological overtones.1
FIDELITY
The center of the thou-relationship is faithfulness. Marcel believes that the ultimate character of man’s relationship involves the element of fidelity, which serves as the major clue to the nature of one’s own existence.
For it is through fidelity that a person continues to shape his life, thereby expressing his faith in whatever is other than he is; and it is therefore in expressing fidelity that a person’s life achieves a responsible and authentic continuity.2
It is Marcel’s intent to underscore the fact that fidelity is exposed in relationships where it has the capacity to subdue the objectivity of the other, to give way to new level of intimacy. Through fidelity, there is a willful act of participation on the part of the individual who brings meaning into reality through his invocation of God.
CHAPTER FOUR
CRITICAL APPRAISAL
EVALUATION
Marcel’s existentialism is an experiential philosophy which has its pivotal thesis as “esse est co-ess” to be is to be with others. He has a clear view about human existence, not as an abstract substance but as a relation between conscious subjects. Among all the contemporary doctrines, Marcel’s philosophy of I-Thou which has its root in the absolute Thou-God, could be the best hope and option in restoring the dignity of the human person. In the light of this, Joseph C.M. rightly said:
Marcel’s philosophy must be considered a uniquely significant attempt within the existentialist framework to give a concrete explanation of human existence without compromising man or denying God.1
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION
Marcel’s philosophy has remained a source of hope and inspiration for all positive minds. It is a philosophy that is suitable for our contemporary world where man is no longer regarded as a subject but rather as an object, as a means and not an end. I may consider it as the ‘philosophia perennies’- the perennial philosophy because of its meaningfulness to all men in all times. It is a philosophy of experience as opposed to abstract speculation. It is a practical thought that bears on concrete human conditions. It is interested on how theoretical speculations on friendship could be realistically attained. It is all about commitment, fidelity, sacrifice, all having love and hope as its foundation.
However, what ever may be my appraisal, it stands glaringly clear that this effort of Marcel is not without certain flaws that undermine its bid for the right to be called a perennial philosophy. His thought is too subjective and personal in character. He did not consider the limits of the character of man; an imperfect man who is subject to possibilities as Battista Mondin would say: “Man: an impossible possibility.”3 So to pretend that Marcel’s existentialist postures admit no flaws would be termed an intellectual dishonesty.
At this juncture we acknowledge that Marcel’s thought portrays an opening, a new road in the proper understanding of human relations. In his thesis we see that authentic personhood is only realized in a meaningful inter-subjectivity characterized by the encounter of “I” and “Thou. His evaluation of technology and the recognition of the ontological value of man leaves us with the genuine impression that man should and must be valued for whom he really is and not on the level of economic advantage. Man is by his nature an end in himself and not a means to another end. Marcel’s reflection on this ontological nature of man grossly challenges the idea by which people place premium on certain persons based on their technological and class values. The dignity of man should be respected, man should be loved irrespective of how, who and what he does or can do.
This great work is just a simple attempt of few pages of an exposition and analysis of the basic tenets of Marcel’s deeper thoughts on I-Thou relationship.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
- BUBER, M., Between Man and Man, Great Britain, S.C.M. Press, 1955. The Knowledge of man, New York, Harper and row. Publishers, Inc., 1966.
- BLACKHAM A.J., Six Existentialist thinkers, N.y, Herper & row Pub., 1959.
- COPLESTON, F., Contemporary Philosophy, US, Harper and Row Publishers, Inc., 1976.
- CARALG, E., Encyclopedia of Philosophy, General ed., New York, Routledge Press, Vol.6 and 4, 1998.
- COOPER, D.E. Existentialism, 2nd ed., US, Blackwell publishers Ltd 1999.
- HUXLEY., A. The perennial philosophy, London, Chatto and winds press, 1947.
- KAAM., A.V. The art of existential Counceling, pannsylvania. Dimension Books Inc., Wilkes-Barre, 1966.