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PHILOSOPHERS NEWSContemporary philosophers · ideas · books
Philosopher
French philosopher and playwright — problem against mystery, being against having
Independent; Gifford Lecturer, University of Aberdeen (1949–1950) · France · d. 7 December 1889 — 8 October 1973
A French philosopher, dramatist and music critic, often called the first French existentialist though he rejected the label in favour of 'philosophy of existence' or neo-Socratism. His Metaphysical Journal (1927) and Being and Having (1935) set out a method of secondary reflection, the distinction between problem and mystery, and the themes of availability, creative fidelity and hope. A Catholic convert from 1929, he gave the Gifford Lectures at Aberdeen in 1949 and 1950.
Gabriel Marcel died in Paris on 8 October 1973, aged eighty-three. Philosopher, playwright and music critic, he opened the French road to existentialism and then refused the name. His distinction between a problem, which can be solved and forgotten, and a mystery, which involves the one who asks, is the day's inheritance.
Gabriel Marcel
