I And Thou by Martin Buber Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.98 You Save: $8.02 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.00 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of I And Thou
Book Review: I-Thou - is not a 'system'
Summary: 5 Stars
In response to "An alternative reading, April 22, 2004
Reviewer: A reader".
I have read "I-Thou" many times over the years. Whereas Buber was well-acquainted with the works of many before him, it is clear from reading his own works (and 'I-Thou in particular) that he himself was concerned with, among other aspects of the 'human', the very problem(s) of the systematising of human experience.
In this regard, the 'I-Thou' relation is in 'opposition' to any 'system' of thought, (philosophical/theological/ otherwise); although 'systematising' of the 'I-Thou' encounter can be done afterwards. In this regard, Buber's explication of the 'I-Thou' encounter is not meant to be approached from a 'systems point-of view' - it is to challenge and draw the reader's attention to the 'I-Thou' encounter.
Book Review: How to be a human being, philosophically explained
Summary: 5 Stars
Buber's basic distinction is between the I- It, and the I- Thou relationship. In the I-It relationship we treat others as objects and make use of them for our own selfish purposes. In the I - Thou relationship we treat others with full respect, and seek to understand their inwardness as we understand our own. In the I- Thou relationship as Buber conceives it true dialogue and true relationship is possible. And in this kind of meaningful relationship between two understanding and empathetic human beings we come into a kind of holy relationship. And this kind of holy human relationship parallels the proper relationship we are to have with God.
While this single idea might seem too all encompassing to really analyze the complexity of our human relationships, I believe it is a basically right guiding concept.
Buber in this short work sets out his theoretical understanding of the concept. Buber is ordinarily a clear writer, and a remarkable storyteller as in his 'Tales of the Hasidism' work. But here the theoretical structure means that there is much abstraction often difficult to understand. Philosophy meets poetry here but not always in a readily comprehensible way.
But again this is the key concept of a major thinker, and a concept which illuminate the path for each of us to a better and more humanly fulfilling life.
Book Review: Outstanding work, complemented by that of John Macmurray
Summary: 5 Stars
This outstanding book gives a vision of a human philosophy far from the dehumanising reductionism of most twentieth century Cartesian philosophy. While Buber uses poetic language, those interested in seeing an alternate, more philosophical rigorous working out of these ideas should look at the neglected work of the Scottish philosopher John Macmurray (1891-1976).
Macmurray firstly proposes action, and not thought, as the fundamental basis for understanding what it is to be human. When Descartes says "I think", he is then already divorced from the world. One can ONLY exist in interaction with others and other things, it is absurd to imagine a person as existing in a universe where there is nothing else whatsoever. Action is the full state of the human being, and thinking is a lesser, abstracted state. Action is a full concrete activity of the Self employing all our capacities whereas thought is constituted by the exclusion of some of our powers and a WITHDRAWAL into an activity which is less concrete and less complex... a theory of knowledge is derived from and included in a theory of action.
Secondly, Macmurray proposes another enormous paradigm shift for Western philosophy by saying that we cannot fully understand individuals in isolation, but only in relation to others. Relationship is constitutive of human living for Macmurray: 'We need one another to be ourselves. This complete and unlimited dependence of each of us upon the others is the central and crucial fact of personal existence.' The idea of an isolated agent is self-contradictory; any agent is necessarily in relationship with Others. Macmurray corresponded with Martin Buber, and his thought essentially extends Buber's vision.
These two central tenets are explicated respectively in Macmurray's two major works, "The Self as Agent" and "Persons in Relation" (also published together as "The Form of the Personal"). Macmurray's writing is crystal clear, and filled with other fascinating points, such as his distinction between intellectual and emotional representations, in chapter 9 of "The Self as Agent".
A great short introduction to Macmurray and his work can be found in David Creamer's book "Guides to the Journey".
Book Review: I always return to this book...
Summary: 5 Stars
The image of the self is incomplete without the image of the other. There are very few books that resonate so meaningfully or reflect the human condition as accurately as does I and Thou. Buber presses upon his reader the importance of engaging all of one's self in experience in order to be fully attuned to one's environment and the entities present in it, not to view the other as separate from the self but as vital and purposeful in its own self.Book Review: An alternative reading
Summary: 5 Stars
I think many people misread this book. Of course it is also possible that their interpretations are valid, but I think they miss what is for me the central and most interesting part of Buber's book. There are at least two strata of the contents of <>. The deeper one is the metaphysical framework on which the upper one, like Buber's conclusions in the field of ethics, theology &c. is based. Now this superficial part is the part of the contents that many readers exclusively notice. They are taken away by the poetic language and think that this book is some light and soft "life philosophy" or "mystical literature". Many people do not realize the rigorous and exact metaphysical system behind these spectacular "poetic prose" items. Why Buber uses poetic language is because it is well nigh impossible to talk about his topics in a clear everyday language. Because our everyday language lacks the cathegories necessary for the elucidation of such a theory on the structure of being as that of Buber, the user of the language has to revert to writing some sort of myth or metaphors in the hope that some readers may see through. If Buber had used geometrical metaphors instead of "poetic" language, then his book would have become less popular but may have been taken more seriously, for example, by pro-"analytic" readers of philosophy. Instead, because of the difficult language (Buber's language IS difficult, because it is hard to see through the emotional and poetic tone the underlying logical structure), Buber is often discarded as 'obscure' or hailed as 'writing beautiful poetic text'. In some sense both evaluations are true but from another viewpoint neither one is important.
I'm not going to outline the system of this book, I think anyone will find it if he re-reads the book more carefully. The metaphysical doctrine of Buber is unusual and offers interesting features like the possibility of rethinking (or eliminating?) such relations like 'subject vs. object' or 'matter vs. mind' and rethinking the concept of 'being', that of 'individual objects' &c.
When a thinker tries to subvert the traditional set of ontological concepts, he very likely begins to use 'obscure language' (like Buber did) or resorts to invent words (this was Heidegger's method). We, readers, often find such works obscure or we misread them because we already do have the 'everyday' scheme of concepts in our minds, which does not conform to the one used by the writer of the book.
The already mentioned subversion of the traditional concept-scheme is revolutionary in philospohy in the sense that when traditional concept-patterns are disrupted, then many of the traditional problems are revealed as pseudo-problems or they can be solved and newer ones are found. That is why, for example, Heidegger is important, for he has once again set philosophy in motion with his radical new stance on the world. Buber, together with thinkers like Jaspers, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty etc. is one of the revolutionary philosophers of the 20th century. I don't mean that Buber is among the most important, but his work may be worth a reading because of its originality.
And besides, it is still really beautiful a book and may be life-changing for many.