Reflections of Love: Gabriel Marcel andJ. Ortega y Gasset from an Existentialist Perspective
BEYTULHIKME-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY, cilt.16, sa.1, ss.347-371, 2026 (ESCI, TRDizin)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 16 Sayı: 1
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.29228/beytulhikme.83881
- Dergi Adı: BEYTULHIKME-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Central & Eastern European Academic Source (CEEAS), Index Islamicus, Philosopher's Index, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM), Philosopher's Index full-text
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.347-371
- Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This study aims to examine comparatively the conceptions of love developed by two major thinkers of twentieth-century philosophy, Gabriel Marcel and Jos & eacute; Ortega y Gasset. According to Gabriel Marcel, love is an existential experience endowed with ontological, metaphysical, and theological dimensions. In this sense, love transcends objectifying modes of relation and unfolds within a "we" mode of being; it is grounded in existential participation and fidelity, and bears the character of a "mystery" that resists full conceptualization. Ortega y Gasset, by contrast, conceives love not merely as an emotional experience but as a movement of self-transcendence that affects and transforms the very center of human existence. For Ortega, love is a directional and choice-based act closely linked to the individual's life project. From this perspective, love is conceptualized within an ontological and phenomenological framework as a dynamic mode of relation through which the human being engages with the world and with others. The original contribution of this study lies in moving beyond a purely thematic comparison of Marcel's and Ortega's views on love, and in proposing a rethinking of love as a tension-filled intersection between existential commitment and the individual life project.