Marcel’s broken world philosophy and the Covid-19 crisis

In this essay I will discuss the current Covid-19 pandemic in relation to Marcel’s existentialist philosophy that “was always through concrete, lived experience” (Hanley, 1998 : 22). Firstly, I will explain main Marcelian themes to set the scene for further analysis of key ideas in more depth. I will delve in to ontological exigence that is “the Marcelian actualisation of transcendence, which is manifested as a thirst for the fullness of being and a demand to transcend the world of abstract objectivity” (Hernandez, 2020). Marcel said that in a broken world we are solving problems rather than exploring our own sense of meaning. This is the dichotomy between analytic philosophy that attempts to reduce problems to objective issues to be solved, and his existentialism that views life as a first personal experience full of mystery. I will follow with Marcel’s view of the functionalised person applied to the social divide between those who are able to work from home during the crisis and those who cannot. Then I will explore how hospital staff faced delays in obtaining crucial personal protective equipment (PPE) resulting in tragic deaths of their colleagues, yet the staff battled on, elucidating human dignity in the face of despair. In conclusion, I will argue that transcendence can be found within a broken world.

Marcel’s philosophy focuses on experiential thinking from a first person point of view to find value and meaning from life. He wanted to move away from the rational thought of British and German Idealism, as he saw that there was a distinction between problem and mystery that was important. Life’s mysteries are not problems to be solved objectively, but instead are worthy of reflection. Primary reflection is personal contemplation, but secondary reflection is personal thinking weighed up against existentialist ideas, such as self in relation to others, that allows the agent to move towards “that urgent inner need” for transcendence (Marcel, 1949 : 39). Marcel’s philosophy discusses how when people are reduced to function, they become an object to be used rather than an autonomous, creative being. As an embodied being, we don't just have a body, but we are the body, as we cannot separate from it as we interact with the world and others. We can become part of the objective world through it and enter in to the mystery of being, not just using Idealism’s “pure thought” but “in working my way up from life to thought and then down from thought to life again” (Marcel, 1949 : 41). Through relations with others, Marcel believed we could glimpse more deeply in to ourselves, as by being aware of being observed you become more self-conscious in the mirror of the other. In order to explain this existential condition of self-and-other more deeply, Marcel discusses presence that is “felt in an atmosphere of a certain intimacy” (Marcel, 1949 : 207) and he refers to  how we can give ourselves to others in a certain way through ‘communion’ and ‘availability’. Communion means a non-linguistic way of giving oneself to another out of who we are, rather than what we say. Availability or disponibilité is openness and responsiveness towards another. The opposite being unavailability, where “he remains shut up inside himself” with “a kind of hard shell round him” (Marcel, 1949 : 163). Shared presence can give meaning to experiences that are not accessible for an ego-centered self, according to Marcel. Human dignity is a theme that covers matters of respect and responsibility towards others, whilst retaining the integrity of one’s own autonomy and humanity within an impersonal mass society. Lastly, Marcel claims that human beings long for fullness, based upon values such as beauty, goodness, truth and love.

Marcel saw being as a sacred reality. Ontological exigence is defined as “a need and a demand for some level of coherence in the cosmos and for some understanding of our place and role within this coherence” (Treanor and Sweetman, 2016). For Marcel, the sacred is what’s ultimately meaningful, where a person can find beauty, truth, goodness and love through reflexive reflection that is “an inward looking that allows the self to be receptive to the call of others” (Hernandez, 2020). To live in this way requires a kind of faith that these aforementioned qualities, so that humans can find creativity, connection and the ability to overcome an ego-centric life, to preserve all that is good within us. Marcel saw the mass society as based upon selfishness, technomania (an obsession with technology), separation and lack of connection to the spiritual. Throughout the crisis, I have been deeply moved by witnessing something “essentially creative” about my community directed neighbours (Marcel, 1949 : 139). When the crisis began, they immediately sprang in to action as part of an already existing local movement called “Best Before Café”, where supermarkets donate food that is close to a best before date destined for landfill, yet it’s perfectly good to eat. They set up a gazebo outside their house offering free food, made plenty of homemade jams, and put together bespoke food packages frequently for those in need. They have busy lives and other responsibilities, yet they continually reached out beyond themselves. An example of Anderson’s “spiritual self” or “embodied self..full of tensions, agitations and opacities” (Marcus, 2012 : 4). They have truly been examples of goodness and love for others, trying to make the broken-world more bearable, by showering their spirit of aliveness through the community.

Others who have been actively working during the pandemic, are the lowest paid members of society including those in supermarkets. The till workers earning minimum wage have had to keep working despite the posed health risk. If they contracted Co-vid or had symptoms, they would need to self-isolate and would be in receipt of sick pay at only £95.85 per week – An abysmally insufficient amount for the expenses of the modern world. Whilst being served in a local supermarket by a till worker with a cough, I reflected it must be common that some people were continuing to work with mild symptoms, due to financial necessity. According to Marcel, a person reduced to function or an object to be used is a reflection of the broken-world that blocks people from glimpsing transcendence, as “the sense of wonder and the exigence for the transcendent may slowly begin to wither and die” (Treanor and Sweetman, 2016). It was later found that Co-vid could be passed asymptomatically, presumably increasing levels of fear for those who could not avoid the public whilst performing their function at work. In comparison, office workers can possibly very comfortably work from home, hosting Zoom socials on a Friday afternoon, with no need to travel by train, saving money and time. Many workers were furloughed, receiving 80% of their salary as a type of paid holiday. The inequality of the broken-world is obvious in the face of an unprecedented crisis, and Marcel highlighted that in a broken world, people tend to forget how broken it really is, yet Co-vid has brought it all to the surface, including but not limited to shoppers hoarding food, crowds still gathering lacking compassion for others, and politicians trying to show that they care, but unconvincingly.

Politicians in interviews were proud to quote how large numbers of PPE had been dispatched, whilst doctors had to spend valuable time describing their lived experience of using waste bags for head coverings and how they had to wear makeshift goggles, causing the large numbers they quoted to show as an absurd disguise to the truth – that stock in storage doesn’t appreciate in value and so it wasn’t a priority. The "just-in-time” principle of ordering stock only once it is required has resulted in unnecessary and tragic deaths of medical staff fighting to save the lives of others. Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP, Shadow Minister for Mental Health, spoke of the major effect on mental health of those burying colleagues and said the government’s response just wasn’t good enough when she asked in parliament, “where was the forward planning for PPE for our NHS and care staff?” (Allin-Khan, 2020). It is truly sad to see that we weren’t prepared for this crisis. However, when watching medical staff fight for their rights, something struck me. They spoke from the heart and demanded dignity and respect from the government, whilst caring for others at the expense of spending time with their own families. Marcel associated dignity with the “persecuted and oppressed, and with compassion, empathy for the suffering of others, including a desire to provide concrete help” (Marcus, 2012 : 138). The medical staff have had to witness immense suffering, and yet they find a way to carry on that I believe is deeply linked to the inner qualities of love, truth and goodness.

In conclusion, the broken-world system shows that wealth is more important than health to the governments, who were unprepared in terms of PPE. The crisis has highlighted how those in lower paid jobs have kept society running whilst putting their lives at risk, whilst others were sheltered from the worst of it. Personally, I feel it is easy to be drawn in to the problems of this world, but I reflect upon the difficulties and discuss with others, as a way to find meaning in my life. I remain contemplative, and agree that “it is a struggle between being “permeable”, “porous”, as Marcel calls it, and being impenetrable and closed off” (Marcus, 2012 : 6). I keep striving to find goodness in a broken-world, and am overwhelmed by the beauty in loving actions of others around me, such as my neighbours. There is plenty to be angry about, but giving in to despair reduces my feelings of dignity, and causes a lack of connection with others. A crisis like this has allowed me to witness in a new way, how transcendence can be found amidst a broken world.

Bibliography

Marcel, Gabriel, and Katharine R. Hanley. Gabriel Marcel's Perspectives on the Broken World, Marquette University Press, 1998. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anglia/detail.action?docID=3017002.
Created from anglia on 2020-07-25 06:55:45.

Marcus, Paul. In Search of the Spiritual : Gabriel Marcel, Psychoanalysis and the Sacred, Taylor & Francis Group, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anglia/detail.action?docID=1035386. Created from anglia on 2020-07-23 09:58:58.

Sky News, 2020, YouTube, [online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIrUt0Q9N8s Date accessed: 27 July 2020

Hernandez, Jill, 2020, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy [online] https://iep.utm.edu/marcel/ Date accessed: 25 July 2020

Marcel, Gabriel, 1949, The Mystery of Being, Hardpress Publishing, Miami, USA

Treanor, Brian and Sweetman, Brendan, "Gabriel (-Honoré) Marcel", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/marcel/>.