Date of Award
12-1983
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
James H. Robb
Second Advisor
Howard Kainz
Third Advisor
Denis Savage
Fourth Advisor
Roland Teske
Fifth Advisor
Andrew Tallon
Abstract
Gabriel Marcel's philosophy has been a source of deep spiritual nourishment to me ever since I was introduced to it as an undergraduate student. What attracted me first was his kind of theism which recognizes that man's approach to God is personal through and through, i.e., man must both approach as a person and realize that he is approaching a Person. Above all else, I think, Marcel stands as a witness to the fact that philosophy must always be related to life--it is no mere abstract game--and this is life in the most personal sense, i.e., my life. It has bee a delight to examine this philosophy once again. What I think I have found in this examination is quite accurately stated in the above epigram from Saint-Exupery. Marcel's philosophy is an attempt to aid us who are on the way to truth; this way must be approached with the heart rather than with the eyes.