Gabriel Marcel and American philosophy

Gabriel Marcel\u27s thought is deeply informed by the American philosophical tradition. Marcel\u27s earliest work focused upon the idealism of Josiah Royce. By the time Marcel completed his Royce writings, he had moved beyond idealism and adopted a form of metaphysical realism attributed to William Ernest Hocking. Marcel also developed a longstanding relationship with the American philosopher Henry Bugbee. These important philosophical relationships will be examined through the Marcellian themes of ontological exigence, intersubjective being, and secondary reflection. Marcel\u27s relationships with these philosophers are not serendipitous. They are expressions of Marcel\u27s deep Christian fait

The Religious Dimension of Experience: Gabriel Marcel and American Philosophy

Thesis advisor: David M. Rasmussen*Thesis advisor: Oliva BlanchetteThe French philosopher Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973) was deeply influenced by the classical tradition of American philosophy. Marcel's first essays focused upon the philosophy of Josiah Royce (1855-1916). Royce impressed Marcel due to his ability to engage in bold, imaginative construction and yet remain "faithful to the empirical tradition, which he deepened and enriched...." Marcel was also deeply influenced by William Ernest Hocking's (1873-1966) major work, The Meaning of God in Human Experience which, for Marcel, not only reaffirmed the religious dimension of human experience but also served as "an advance in the direction of that metaphysical realism toward which I resolutely tended." Lastly, Marcel conducted a sustained personal and philosophical relationship with Henry G. Bugbee Jr. (1915-1999) of the University of Montana. Marcel first met Bugbee at Harvard University while delivering the William James Lectures in 1961. Willard Van Orman Quine described Bugbee as "the ultimate exemplar of the examined life" and Calvin Schrag described him as "one of the more marginalized philosophers in America." Part I consists of a comprehensive examination of Marcel's philosophy, focusing upon the manner in which his thought exhibits a strong sense of "ontological continuity" - establishing a fundamental relationship between human being and the ontological. According to Marcel "Finite thought is continually attracted by a beyond, by Another, which eternally escapes it." Part I will be followed by three sections (Parts II-IV) devoted to the relationship between Marcel and the thought of Royce, Hocking, and Bugbee respectively. The relationship between Marcel and these philosophers is based largely upon their mutual critique of abstract thinking and a shared belief in the existence of a decisive connection between human being and Being. The thesis will conclude with Part V, entitled "The Religious Dimension of Experience," which depicts the manner in which a select cadre of American philosophers has been successful in drawing out the philosophical implications of Marcel's project. As Marcel indicated, "Perhaps the most important task on the plane of speculation is to deepen once again the notion of life itself in the light of the highest and most genuine religious thought."Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Philosophy

Radical empiricism, intersubectivity and the importance of praxis in the philosophy of Gabriel Marcel

The philosophy of Gabriel Marcel is informed by the classical tradition of American philosophy – most notably William James, William Ernest Hocking and Josiah Royce. At a time when Marcel scholarship is at risk of being eclipsed by abstract modes of philosophical discourse, a return to the classical American sources of Marcel\u27s thought is vital. This article investigates Marcel\u27s thought from the standpoint of James’ conception of radical empiricism, the primacy of intersubjective experience in Hocking’s philosophy, and the importance of praxis in the later Royce. Marcel’s openness to the classical American tradition in philosophy is a function of the Catholic character of Marcel’s thought

Radical empiricism, intersubectivity and the importance of praxis in the philosophy of Gabriel Marcel

The philosophy of Gabriel Marcel is informed by the classical tradition of American philosophy – most notably William James, William Ernest Hocking and Josiah Royce. At a time when Marcel scholarship is at risk of being eclipsed by abstract modes of philosophical discourse, a return to the classical American sources of Marcel's thought is vital. This article investigates Marcel's thought from the standpoint of James’ conception of radical empiricism, the primacy of intersubjective experience in Hocking’s philosophy, and the importance of praxis in the later Royce. Marcel’s openness to the classical American tradition in philosophy is a function of the Catholic character of Marcel’s thought. </jats:p

The problem of interiority in Freud and Lacan

The problem of interiority constitutes one of the fundamental problems of modernity. Once the decision is made to ground human experience within the locus of subjectivity, how is it possible to establish connection with an object (Gegenstand) that “stands against” and is somehow independent of human subjectivity—what Lacan refers to as “the real”? A Lacanian reading of Freud’s Project for a Scientific Psychology places the problem of interiority in a radically new, yet continous light. While Freud begins with a conception of reality interior to the subject, Lacan offers a way out of the traditional problem of interiority through a nuanced account of sublimation. Lacan’s “way out” consists of an oblique passage from the “symbolic order” to the real – through “the zone Oedipus entered having scratched out his eyes.