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Abstract

This paper is a reflection on the practical utility of Gabriel Marcel's thought in the face of 
strising social crises and division in the society. At the dawn of the 21  century, humanity 

seemed to have slowly descended into chaos. Although the world experienced scientific 
and technological breakthroughs, the products of these achievements have further caused 
a lot of harm to man. Man's social identity is threatened as individuals and communities 
wage wars against one another. Men have closed themselves against one another and 
have failed to reflect on another's self-worth. Socially, humanity have lived in dread of 
what Marcel described as the 'broken-ness' of the society. As a solution, Marcel 
advocated humanity to live intersubjective life. This paper employs descriptive and 
analytic methods. It argues that as a task for social revolution, Marcel's thought has to be 
engaged to bring about national cohesion. The paper asserts that the practical benefit of 
intersubjectivity appears most clearly in the value it assigns to unity of purpose, and ideas 
of human worth, camaraderie, shared aims and brotherhood to resolve the growing 
tensions in the society. 

Keywords: Role, Philosophy, National Cohesion, Intersubjectivity 

Introduction
Today, humanity faces a number of social problems. Quite true that this is a 

decisive period of history, a glorious age marked by scientific and technological 
achievements; it is indeed a time of globalization and the whole world is experiencing 
remarkable changes in all areas of existence. Unfortunately, this is only one side of the 
story; there is another side, mostly unsaid and dark in all sense. Baiju (2006) professed 
that it is a terrible time, we happen to live, tainted with unheard cruelties of man against 
man and devastating wars of nation against nation. Although man glories in his 
achievements, he is threatened by the stuff of his creativity. The invention of military 
hardware such as weapons of mass destruction, missiles, and guns rather threatened man's 
existence. No wonder Baiju (2006) adds that it is an age of material progress and moral 
regress where the value of culture, religion, tradition, family, relationships and morality is 
at shake. It is a fact that, human today life is filled with anxiety and threatened by 

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THE ROLE OF PHILOSOPHY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES IN NATIONAL 
COHESION: A REFLECTION ON GABRIEL MARCEL'S 

INTERSUBJECTIVITY 

                                            
Godwin Aondover Gbande
Department of Philosophy,

University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria

Terfa Kahaga Anjov, PhD
     Department of Philosophy, 

  Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria.

Justine Peter Galleh 
Department of Philosophy,

 University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria.



meaninglessness.
In Africa, the problem of human existence is multifaceted. News of terrorist 

attacks, wars and communal conflicts are common headlines. There is hardly any 
television or radio bulletin without mention of violence. Dokubo and Oluwadare (2011) 
notes that Nigeria in particular, has experience a dramatic increase in violence, terrorism 
and the like in the past few decades. Lawless sects have risen in various parts of the 
country. Media reports on Boko Haram bombings, insurgent killings, herders' attacks, 
kidnappings, armed robbery and banditry, militancy and so on are a commonplace. These 
happenings are pointers that human existence in this part of the world, like the rest of 
Africa is unspeakable and appalling. It is a phenomenon that threatens and undermines 
the economic, political, religious and social security of the nation. 

World over, philosophers have tried to address the problem of human existence. 
For instance, having witnessed the horror of World War I and II, philosophers like 
Kierkegaard, Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre up to Marcel (Dukor, 2009) raised existential 
questions. While all existentialists addressed different topics their focus was to hoist the 
position of man.Marcel in particular, became popular in his view that man has become a 
slave to the products of his ingenuity. He recommended intersubjectivity as the answer to 
calm the chaotic world. Sunnie (1993) remarks that Marcel's position appeals to the life 
experiences of us all. During his time, Marcel's treatise made a qualitative impact in 
human relations. The crux of this paper is to reflect on practical benefits of Marcel's 
thought to the condition of Human existence in a modern state.

The concept of Intersubjectivity
Intersubjectivity refers to an interpersonal relationship or bond that exists among 

humans. Brinck (2008) defines it as “the sharing of experiences”. She categorized three 
ways that experiences can be shared namely: jointly, reciprocally, and by complementary 
interaction. The variety of shared experiences include; emotion, attention, and intention. 
Gillespie and Flora C (2010) points out that, it is as a short-hand description for a variety 
of human interactions. It has been used to refer to agreement, treaty or truce between 
people on a given set of meanings. Thus, intersubjectivity in this sense is simply a word 
for agreement. 

Susswein and Racine (2015) define intersubjectivity as a technical concept used 
to classify interactive behaviours and abilities. The “perspectives” expressed in these 
definitions do not convey a univocal notion of intersubjectivity, however it point to a 
complex phenomenon, or a set of related phenomena, in which experiential, behavioural, 
genetic and neural processes and levels are interwoven in both potentiating and 
actualizing what it means to be human. Thus, Intersubjectivity in Marcel's thought is 
similar to the Zulu concept of Ubuntu and Tiv philosophy of Ya na Angbian

The Society and Human Existence
Africa generally is the most conflict-ridden region of the world and the only 

region in which the number of armed conflicts is on the increase (Dokubo and Oluwadare, 
2011). It is no gainsay that human existence in Africa and Nigeria in particular is filled 
with terror. Violence and carnage characterize the society pariticularly in the North East, 

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NorthWest and Middle Belt regions of the country. This is not to say that the South East 
and West are spared of bloodbath. Armed gangs and militancy prevails in the creeks of 
Delta regions. Adekanye (2007) identified many of the causes of violence in Africa today 
with the potent ambition of socio-economic dislocation burdens of debt, IMF structural 
adjustment programmes, the stresses of environmental and human insecurity and the 
pressures of democratization, including the contradiction of forces of exclusion, 
marginalization or domination and demands for empowerment. The combined effect of 
these had produced the alarming rise of social and ethnic tension and conflict. 

In Nigeria today, man's worth is calculated in terms of functions and he is titled by 
his functions. The inherent majesty and sacredness of human being have now been 
replaced by his functional values. Technology enjoys the absolute primacy. The value of 
human beings is determined by human ability and man loses his real personality. His life 
has become a journey without any purpose and goal. This why Marcel complains that 
“man appears more and more, both to himself and to others as an agglomeration of 
functions” (Lescoe, 1974); Marcel is not against technology, but he is against 
technocracy, technology and techno mania, which are the attitude of worshiping technical 
progress. It could be summarized here that, life in Nigeria is no longer considered as a 
divine gift, but as a joke. Man is considered only as an instrument among many others. He 
is no longer is human but a commodity to be used and exploited by some mass movements 
whether social, industrial or political.

Pathway to Marcel's theory of Intersubjectivity
Marcel introduced the notion of intersubjectivity in his famous Gifford Lectures 

of 1949 entitled “A Broken World” (Lescoe, 1974). Baiju remarked that “for Marcel, 
today's world is a Broken World and it causes lots of stress and tensions in man, giving rise 
to the feeling of alienation, despair, anxiety and uneasiness” (pg. 3). Sawchenko (2013) 
further explained that Marcel struggled with the existentialist questions of life and death 
in his own life, he also wrestled with them in his philosophy and his writing. Thus, 
Marcel's thought was influenced by experiences of his time, private and public. 
Sawchenko (2013) traced that, during the First World War, Marcel worked as head of the 
Information Service organized by the Red Cross, a role in which he was surrounded by 
death and grief. Of course, his duties included carrying news of injured and deceased 
soldiers to their families, an experience that influenced him deeply. Like his public life, 
Marcel's private life was not healthier either. Sawchenko (2013)  also notes that: 

The early death of Marcel's mother and his Red Cross work with the 
families of deceased soldiers caused him to question the meaning of life 
and death. Losing his young wife emphasized for him this existentialist 
predicament. He was preoccupied with the idea of maintaining 
relationship with those who have been separated from loved ones through 
death. This led to his inquiry into these existentialist themes in which he 
explored ideas of loving faithfulness and fidelity (pg. 9).

Murchland (2008) added that, Marcel's “views on interpersonal relations were 
deeply influenced by his own family's relationships as he was growing up having lost his 

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mother before his fourth birthday. Questions of openness and connection, of devotion and 
love, of fidelity and responsibility toward others grew in him as a result of these early 
experiences.  As an only child, and growing up in a household in which differing 
temperaments and opinions resulted in strained relationships, pressed him to take a more 
mature attitude than children at ease in their environment. Marcel came to understand that 
life presents radical incompatibilities which cannot be resolved by means of intellectual 
formulae or conventional attitudes.

Thus, in the Gifford Lectures, Marcel pointed out that “we live today in a world at 
war with itself, and this state of world-war is being pushed so far that it runs the risk of 
ending in something that could properly be described as world-suicide” (Marcel, The 
Mystery of Being, 1950). Marcel asserted that the World is broken because the structure of 
society based on true and authentic relations collapses due to several reasons. He also 
observed that the world loses its real unity. The idea of community becomes more and 
more impossible. What Marcel bewailed here was the loss of human dignity which has 
been flaunted on account of violence, wars and conflict evidenced in the World War I and 
II. Having witnessed the horrors against humanity at the war front, Marcel was convinced 
that the world was really set for a suicide. He believed that our world is slowly 
succumbing (if not that it had already succumbed) to a passionless age – a completely 
“mechanistic age” where the power of machines rules. Indeed, as Marcel remarked, we 
live in a 'heartless' world.

Furthermore, Marcel identified three factors that accounted to the world's losing 
of its real unity and peace namely: (i) Increased socialization of life where man's true 
identity is reduced to mere 'identification cards/documents'; (ii) Extension of the powers 
of the State where the government acts like an omniscient god; and (iii) the Loss of real 
unity due to lack of brotherhood, privacy, creativity and reflection (The Mystery of Being, 
pg. 181). Marcel stated that these signs are certain global evils which present a reality that 
needs to be transcended or overcome. These are atrocities which, at their very foundation, 
are due to man's failure to reflect on the presence and worth of the 'other' by “taking one's 
own self as the center”. Yosnhiy (2009) also notes that seeing man's cruelty against man, 
Marcel queried, How then do we hope in the midst of our world's broken-ness, a broken-
ness which holds us captives in our own world?.

Marcel's existentialist ontology therefore provided a realistic stance that affirms 
the dignity and unity of the person. Marcel offers us a perfect formulation of hope: “I hope 
in thee for us” (pg. 112). The very essence of this declaration lies within the 
intersubjectivity of hope.  His works emphasized the first person, and the intertwining of 
the life experiences of persons in his writings revealed his theme of intersubjectivity. 
Marcel noted, “it must be realized that our situation as a 'broken world' is a form of 
captivity – where we, as human beings, are alienated or deprived of a certain kind of 
liberty; we are captives in a sense that we are trapped inside a system of a mechanized 
world – “a bureaucracy of life” . It is based on this background that Marcel rolled out the 
notion of intersubjectivity as a road-map for world peace, freedom from scientific slavery 
and development of humankind.  

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Marcel's Proposal 
Intersubjectivity is a premise aimed at bridging authentic relations in between 

persons, communities and nations. Marcel identifies availability, freedom, fidelity and 
fraternity, faith, hope and love as the values capable of constructing the desired peaceful 
world. Availability also called disponability implies openness, welcoming, surrender, 
readiness to respond, loving attitude, sympathy, admiration and commitment (Schilpp 
and Hahnm, 2013). Marcel says that disponability and commitment go hand in hand. 
Disponability refers unqualified and unreserved availability. It is just like the availability 
of the mother for her child. One becomes totally available for the other without foreseeing 
any egoistic profit. 

Marcel gives equal place to the second pillar, freedom and fraternity. He noted 
that “the freest man is also the most fraternal….The fraternal man is linked to his 
neighbour in such a way that this tie of fraternity not only does not fitter him but frees him 
from himself. The unfree man is the most self-enclosed within himself” (Collins, 1963). 
Freedom grabs the uniqueness of individuality. Fraternity enhances the individuals to 
exercise their freedom. Freedom strengthens our relationship. Therefore fraternity is the 
expression of the I-Thou relationship. He says that a fraternal man is enriched by his 
brother and the society becomes strong in its nature. 

Thirdly, Marcel argues that Fidelity, the third value implies an unconditional vow 
to another person. In fidelity, we make commitment and promise in order to which we 
need faithfulness, a “creative fidelity”. Fidelity, according to Marcel, is a risk and a leap to 
darkness in the sense that “…in swearing fidelity to a person, I do not know what future 
awaits us or even, in a sense, what person he will be tomorrow; the very fact of my not-
knowing is what gives worth and weight to my promise (Marcel, Being and Having).

The next pillars of Marcel's bridge are faith, hope and love. Faith is the highest 
expression of fidelity. Faith can be understood in two ways, i.e., as conviction and as 
commitment (Marcel, Homo Viator 1962). In a genuine commitment one engages in a 
mystical encounter with the other (Baiju 2006). Marcel explains faith as conviction, 
“…when I believe in God and when one asks me questions about this faith or I question 
myself about it, I would, of necessity, have to declare that I am convinced of the existence 
of God” (Lescoe, 1979).  

Whenever there is faith, it will carry love. Love gives meaning to human 
existence. All forms of authentic relationship find its climax in love. Marcel stated that 
“Love is substantial, love is rooted in being, and love is not commensurate with anything 
on which a value can be set or with anything 'marketable'” (Marcel, Man against 
Humanity). Finally, Marcel maintained that hope is fundamental presupposition of 
fulfilled human life. Hope gives meaning to man?s existence. Hope is born from humility 
and not from pride, because a proud man is cut off from certain form of communion from 
his fellow men. Hope is always liberative and is not a way to escape from realities. A 
genuine hope is not at all escapism. Hope is not only a personal appeal to the self but an 
appeal to the selves of all of us. The subject of hope is not “I” or “You”, but “We” born out 
of love. Thus, these values become pillars the bridge could be made up of. Schilpp and 
Hahh captured that:

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Intersubjectivity in Marcel is the relation between two subjects. It is the 
subject to subject relation, which is opposed to ego-centricity, but founded 
on love and harmony with the other. Presence belongs only to the being 
capable of giving himself to others. Therefore presence is intersubjective. 
Friendship, marriage, paternity and fraternity are the various modalities of 
intersubjectivity. It is through creative fidelity, hope and love that one can 
attain the stage of intersubjectivity. The growth of the society and its every 
member is based on the intersubjective relation of the members....we 
should be open to others and must be able to meet them without allowing 
oneself to be dominated or utilized (pg.16).

Marcel's position shows his view that intersubjectivity is that authentic 
relationship capable of constructing the world of love that is made up of values. 
Availability, faith, hope, love, freedom, fidelity and fraternity are those values which are 
called the pillars of the bridge. These values are not what 'we have' but what 'we are'. They 
help humanity to realise their own self and strengthen our relationship. 

Very significant to his theory is the concept of I-Thou. Recall that, also 
foundamental to Marcel's doctrine of intersubjectivity is his view on “Being and Having”, 
“…being as the common foundation and unity” of all beings” (Schlipp and Hahh, 1991). 
But today's man is more concerned with his havings rather than his being. Today's man is 
assessed by what he possesses, rather than what he is, therefore he is running to gather 
more and more havings (Baiju, 2006). Man can transform, meanwhile, his having into 
being. When one escapes from his ego-centricity and enters into the realm of self-giving, 
then the person becomes capable of transforming his having into being. Marcel makes 
allusion to I-Thou who is the facilitator of this intersubjective relationships. I-Thou 
relation is the transformation of “having” into “being”. Marcel noted that an inauthentic 
person is self-enclosed, while an authentic person is open to all others and considers other 
persons as thous, more than a he or she or it (Lescoe, 1974). Marcel declares here that 
“When man considers others as objects or things to be used, then he goes back to having 
from being”.

This I-Thou relationship crafts opportunity for a presence, participation and 
intersubjectivity among human beings. Presence, participation and intersubjectivity are 
in Marcel's estimation reciprocally all-encompassing. An I-Thou relation is embedded in 
a communion or collectivism. Baiju (2013) interpretes that in I-Thou relationship, man 
becomes present to the other in a mutual openness and self-giving. He becomes aware of 
his existence in the most unqualified manner only when he meets the other as thou, as 
another subject. It could be understood that, the relationship is a loving encounter, a 
genuine meeting in love, a friendship and spiritual availability. In an I-Thou relation, 
person respects and loves the other as he loves and respects himself. Here one sacrifices 
himself for the best of others. He is governed not by any egoistic desire, but by a self-
giving desire. 

Next to I-Thou, Marcel proposed that an Absolute Thou brings validity for I-Thou 
relationship, because the being finds depth and dynamism of this relation in the Absolute 
Thou (Schilp and Hahn, p.g.139). Marcel points out that to love a creature is to love him in 

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God. I-Thou relationship discovers my freedom, because my freedom is actualized when 
I am available to my neighbor. In this relation one is present to the other, in the same way 
as he participates in the other's being. I-Thou relationship is a pure relation between two 
subjects, which is an intersubjective relation.

Marcel's concept of intersubjectivity is indispensable for the progress of the 
human person in Nigeria in that intersubjectivity or the relation to the other, on which the 
community is based, provides man with a means of discovering ourselves and of finding 
bearings in the world. Marcel calls intersubjectivity a corner stone of ontology (Marcel, 
Mystery of Being pg. p.g 225). A good illustration of intersubjectivity according to 
Schilpp and Hahn (1991), can be found in the relationship between a musician playing an 
opus of chamber music, where each musician plays a role and makes a contribution in 
collaboration with others. The Nigerian Society for its smooth running needs necessarily 
the presence and participation of all members in the society. This is analogous to the 
saying that “United we stand and divided we fall”. 

Applying Gabriel Marcel's recommendations of intersubjectivity to Nigeria will 
mean that we are but a single tribe. It could be observed that sectionalism, nepotism and 
ethnicism constituted a thorn in the flesh to Nigeria. To the extent that 'juicy' 
appointments, sensitive political offices, certain government parastatal are highly 
reserved or given on the basis of where one comes from. Implementing intersubjectivity 
will correct the pointless dominance of the so-called 'major' tribes. Even the Killer 
herders in the bush will begin to see farmers as brothers. Insurgent and militant groups 
will see no need for bloodshed. People will begin to dialogue instead of resorting to 
violence. This will take the nation to a point where people will consider one another as 
brothers and sisters, an extension of oneself. An Igboman will treat an Hausa or 
Yorubaman like himself and vice versa. Only by entering into that interhuman 
relationship both emotionally and physically as Marcel recommended can there be peace.  
Conclusion

This paper reflected on the practical relevance of Gabriel Marcel's notion of 
intersubjecivity. It was argued that although Africa and Nigeria in particular is broken by 
wars, violence and banditry; that Marcel's intersubjectivity is sufficient to heal her 
broken-ness. Marcel observed that the cause of violence in the world is the disconnection 
between humans; the inability of one to identify with the other, or see one as an extension 
of oneself. In his proposal, Marcel proposes a remedy to heal this Broken World. It was 
stated that an authentic interpersonal relationship can change the disorderly world by re-
establishing affinities based on genuine love. Man needs to be open to his fellow men. 
Intersubjectivity is the best way of interpersonal relationship, the bridge between people. 
This paper submits that a dependable rapport will bring more meaning to human 
existence in the world. In this paper, Marcel's fundamental notions like I-Thou, Absolute 
Thou, Being and Having and Intersubjectivity are conversed. All these notions add to 
highlight the dignity of man as subject and as a person.

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