Gabriel Honoré Marcel (7 December 1889, Paris – 8 October 1973, Paris) 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. The Mystery of Being is a well-known multivolume work authored by Marcel. In ...
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Gabriel Honoré Marcel (7 December 1889, Paris – 8 October 1973, Paris) 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. The Mystery of Being is a well-known multivolume work authored by Marcel. In addition to being a playwright and philosopher, Marcel was also a music critic.
Marcel obtained the agrégation in philosophy in 1910, at the unusually young age of 21. He taught in secondary schools, was a drama critic for various literary journals, and worked as an editor for Plon, the major French Catholic publisher.
Marcel was the son of an atheist, and was himself an atheist until his conversion to Catholicism in 1929. Marcel was opposed to anti-Semitism and supported reaching out to non-Catholics.
He is often classified as one of the...
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