This paper studies the 1918 entries of Gabriel Marcel’s Metaphysical Journal. This study is situated within an argumentative reading of these entries, according to which they present a novel variety of skepticism: first personal skepticism regarding my ability to answer the questions: who am I and do I believe. The force of this skepticism is developed at length, with particular reference to self-interpretation and the temporality of human persons. Two solutions are retrieved from Marcel’s later work. It is argued that (...) the kind of skepticism under investigation presents a natural opening onto faith. For the philosopher interested in providing such an opening, then, it is especially important to correctly describe this kind of skepticism and distinguish it from other varieties. The life and work of Marcel, who lived and surmounted this very skepticism, is therefore especially worthy of study and elucidation in service of the relationship between philosophy and faith. (shrink)

The human being in the receptive position before a work of art or spectacle of some sort—the “spectator”—is a perennial subject of philosophical concern. The aesthetic and ethical issues surrounding this subject have recently been elucidated by the French theorist, Jacques Rancière, in his essay, “The Emancipated Spectator.” This paper analyzes Rancière’s formulation of the main philosophical problem regarding the spectator, as well as his own tentative solution to it. Rancière’s thought is then brought into dialogue with Gabriel Marcel’s writings (...) on the theater which, I will argue, provide a useful supplement to Rancière’s thought. The upshot will be, I Hope, a richer, fuller understanding of the phenomenon of the spectacle, and of the ethical predicament of the spectator. (shrink)