Gabriel Honoré Marcel (7 December 1889 – 8 October 1973) was a French philosopher, a leading Christian existentialist, and author of about 30 plays.
He focused on the modern individual's struggle in a technologically dehumanizing society. Though often regarded as the first French existentialist, he dissociated himself from figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre, preferring the term Philosophy of Existence to define his own thought. The Mystery of Being is a well-known two-volume work authored by Marcel.
He is often classified as one of the earliest existentialists, although he dreaded being placed in the same category as Jean-Paul Sartre; Marcel came to prefer the label "neo-Socratic" (possibly because of Søren Kierkegaard, the father of Christian existentialism, who was a neo-Socratic thinker himself). While Marcel recognized that human interaction often involved objective characterisation of "the other", he still asserted the possibility of "communion" - a state where both individuals can perceive each other's subjectivity.
He focused on the modern individual's struggle in a technologically dehumanizing society. Though often regarded as the first French existentialist, he dissociated himself from figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre, preferring the term Philosophy of Existence to define his own thought. The Mystery of Being is a well-known two-volume work authored by Marcel.
He is often classified as one of the earliest existentialists, although he dreaded being placed in the same category as Jean-Paul Sartre; Marcel came to prefer the label "neo-Socratic" (possibly because of Søren Kierkegaard, the father of Christian existentialism, who was a neo-Socratic thinker himself). While Marcel recognized that human interaction often involved objective characterisation of "the other", he still asserted the possibility of "communion" - a state where both individuals can perceive each other's subjectivity.