Marion and Mysticism: From Givenness to Contemplation

Forum Philosophicum, 2023

Recently, Jean-Luc Marion has developed the role of hermeneutics within his phenomenology of givenness. This paper aims to demonstrate that there is an aesthetic path to accessing hermeneutic engagement of a basic kind in his previous work. The Marionian hermeneutic management of the gap between what gives itself and what shows itself finds its heuristic model in the artist's task of making the unseen visible, as becomes clear in his studies of painting.

Bogoslovni vestnik/Theological Quarterly, 2019

Marion gives a new interpretation to the phenomenological notion of givenness (of a phenomenon) by attributing to this phenomenon a »self« which is, in a certain sense, independent from and prior to its reception by the subject (as »the gifted one«, adonné). In this way, Marion pleads for a phenomenological turn which can also be described in terms of counter-intentionality and counter-method. However, this turn is not a logical necessity, but a (rationally grounded) decision which the subject, or adonné has to make. In this paper I would like to interrelate this decision to the notion of acknowledgement. The adonné, by acknowledging the priority of givenness over its own receiving capacities, adopts the attitude of humility in every relation to reality (not understood ontologically, but in its »saturated« phenomenality). This attitude is of fundamental importance with regard to (the possibility of) the phenomenon of revelation.

2016

Reprezentant de seamă al "turnurii teologice a fenomenologiei franceze", Jean-Luc Marion rămâne unul dintre cei mai fascinanți gânditori ai timpului nostru, prin originalitatea fenomenologiei donației și prin deschiderea unor noi direcții de dialog cu teologia. Din punct de vedere teologic, el practică o apologie postmetafizică, în care temele credinței creștine se regăsesc cu naturalețe alături de concepte fenomenologice precum icoana, fenomenul saturat, contra-experiența, darul, revelația, reducția erotică și adonatul. Separând riguros teologia și filosofia, el dovedește încă o dată că, după o modernitate antireligioasă și într-o postmodernitate nihilistă, a crede și a gândi pot merge încă împreună, chiar dacă numai până la un punct, dincolo de care gândirea filosofică lasă cuvântul teologiei revelate, singura în măsură să rostească adecvat în istorie chemarea Dumnezeului celui viu.

In the preface to the American translation of Etant Donné, Marion is "rethinking the classic operation of the reduction as no longer dedicated only to securing objects (as in Husserl) or disclosing beings (as for Heidegger), but more radically to opening a still more originary determination of the phenomenon – the given. This is summed up in a formula: “So much reduction, so much givenness.”" This paper exposes the main lines of the book, starting with givenness as the last and deeper principle of phenomenology (book I). As givenness is similar to gift, he needs to show how gift, as exchange between giver and givee, comes from givenness (book II). Then he will describe the two sides of givenness: The given (books III and IV) and the gifted (book V). This paper was given at Sun Yat-Sen University, 8th Sept. 2016. It will be published in Chinese.

Forum Philosophicum, 2022

In this article, we analyse the relation of philosophy and theology in the work of Jean‑Luc Marion in order to be able to see not only how the phenomenology of givenness can serve as a “new apologetics” for theology, but also how Marion’s phenomenology itself, in its historical development and in its core principle and method, is influenced and changed by theological phenomena. We present three ways of describing the relation, tension, mutual influence and separation of philosophy and theology: firstly, in line with Pascal’s distinction between the orders of reason and of the heart; secondly, in phenomenology, in terms of indications to the effect that there can be a phenomenon of revelation in the mode of possibility that is distinguished from the phenomenon of Revelation in theology in the mode of historicity; and thirdly, by analogy with Christian apologetics. In particular, we analyse this third dimension, putting forward the thesis that Marion’s phenomenology itself has some characteristics of the Christian apologetics he describes. We try to demonstrate this interpretation of his phenomenology in its key dimensions, such as the counter-method and descriptions of the phenomena of love and revelation, which constitute the culmination of the phenomenology of givenness, although at the same time, as it were, its limit, crossing over into the theological order.

Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 2016

The tendency in most prayers is to preempt an answer coming from God. Yet such predetermination often results to a shortsighted vision of God's action. The mysterious dimension in this case is subsumed by man's finite gaze of the divine. Man often "thinks" that what he asks for in prayer elicits an answer from God, in which case the latter has a "duty" to respond to the former. Thus, if man's wish is not granted, he tends to doubt the existence of the divine. To counteract such tendency, this paper presents phenomenology as a possible explanation. First, it will analyze the problem through the Husserlian method of bracketing one's biases or preconceived notions of God. The notion of intentionality is given as a probable cause of the usual tendency in prayers where man often "intends" according to how he perceives the divine. Next, it will apply Jean-Luc Marion's reverse intentionality which considers that God initiates the dialog. Man's role is simply to respond to such a call. This paper concludes that prayer or any acts attributed to God should be interpreted within the context of Marion's reverse intentionality. The one thing that man needs to avoid is the tendency toward predetermination-that is, toward the thinking that man predetermines God's answer. Intentionality could be a helpful guide in the phenomenological interpretation, but it is limited only to the act of bracketing previously held notions of God. It is precisely the difficulty in seeing the invisible that one needs, at most, a possible phenomenon that allows for the divine to reveal as a gift.

The Heythrop Journal, 2005

Ever since the publication in 1991 of the landmark God without Being, 1 and now considerably amplified by the recently completed 'triptych' of Re´duction et donation, E´tant donne´, and De surcroıt, 2 Jean-Luc Marion's work in contemporary phenomenology and continental philosophy of religion has engaged the attention of an international array of scholars from a wide variety of disciplines. Indeed, that Marion's phenomenology of 'givenness' (donation) has generated significant critical discussion, and from several quarters-both from scholars who regard it as insufficiently phenomenological and thus as a betrayal of phenomenology, 3 and from scholars who consider it to have unduly compromised the theological prerogatives of the Christian faith 4-bears witness to its ambitious and comprehensive scope. Ambitious, to be sure; some might even say, audacious: Marion does not shy away from the daunting task of taking up, with an amazing conceptual rigor that in effect already determines the parameters of the contemporary discussion, what one of his translators describes as the 'ongoing dialogue along the complex and unstable borders between theology and philosophy.' 5 Moreover, he does so in a way that often finds him speaking with equal eloquence from both sides of the debate. That is, Marion does not limit himself merely to approaching philosophy as a theologian, or the inverse: rather, he aspires to be both theologian and philosopher at once. 6 It should not be surprising, then, to discover that some have found themselves perplexed, 7 or even cautiously dubious, 8 regarding the success of Marion's project to articulate 'the separation that unites' (l'e´cart communiant) theology and philosophy (IAD p. 199/ID p. 257). Such reservations have prepared the ground for the appearance of Marion's most recent and most highly anticipated book, Le phe´nome`ne e´rotique, 9 which ventures into relatively uncharted philosophic waters by

My goal in this paper is to investigate the role of the subject in Jean-Luc Marion's phenomenology aided by his interpretation of the Kantian categories in " Being Given " and " In Excess ". I shall relate Marion's hypothetical saturation of the Kantian categories to the suspension of the I-identity. The inner mechanism of this suspension will be shown to consist in a critical resistance to an excessive intuition that is defined by a failed attempt at the conceptualizing of intuitions. This failure shall manifest the saturated phenomenon as a counter-experience. The critical resistance to an excessive intuition acts as a temporary activity of the subject leading to its role as interpreter inscribed in an infinite hermeneutic. Based on this I argue that Marion's subject is not destroyed by an excessive intuition but is only called upon to investigate a phenomenon from a multitude of perspectives. I hold this to be of the essence for Marion, as it explains the possibility of interpreting and experiencing the given as a given during the encounter with the given in which both the subject as well as the given become manifest. I shall argue thus that the recourse to Kant further clarifies Marion's account of a critical, resistant subject. However, this does not mean that I am arguing for Kant's categories, but that I hold them to have an important explanatory role for Marion's phenomenology.

Kritike, 2023

While Marion disavows talking about ethics and does not explicitly articulate or directly engage with ethical issues, I argue that his views of human reason and the irreducibility of the human person is salient to phenomenological ethical inquiry. An analysis and explication of Marion's thoughts on the human person and reason support the view that his phenomenological thoughts have ethical implications as they broaden the scope of ethical inquiry to characterize ethical life more comprehensively. Thus, his views on the irreducible human person and reason are enriching, helpful, and relevant in ethical philosophizing and practice. The first part of this paper broadly discusses the context of Marion's phenomenological project and its relation to ethics. The second part analyzes Marion's thoughts on the human person as a phenomenon of event and his attempt to broaden our understanding of human reason through fundamental phenomenological concepts like the types of phenomena, the saturated phenomenon, and his phenomenology of love or charity. The third part examines the implications of his views on a phenomenological ethical inquiry by demonstrating how they enrich our ethical or moral capacity to deal with ethical concerns, issues, and problems.