I And Thou by Martin Buber Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of I And Thou
Book Review: Spirituality Palatable to Even the Crankiest of Aetheists
Summary: 5 Stars
Martin Buber has achieved something amazing in this slim book. All you really need to read is Part One of I and Thou (more appropriately translated as 'I and You' in my opinion) to understand his very practical philosophy. There is more profundity in those 30 pages than in all the religious / "metaphysical studies" / spirituality aisle books you'll ever see.For some reason, Buber is always shelved under Judaica, when Philosophy seems like a better place for him, but anyway don't be scared off by the religious categorization. This book is as secular as they come, and therefore safe for the avowed atheists out there.
Anyway, after reading enormous doses of literature, and a pretty good smattering of Western philosophy, this was the first book to have simple, applicable advice; it is at one and the same time a metaphysical system and a doctrine of how to live the good life. As far as I know, these two branches of philosophy usually seem pretty far apart, except in religion, in which case you are forced to accept absurdities as the price of this marriage.
Buber is neither an optimist nor a pessimist. He's an existentialist but I find him more 'useful' than other Ex's because his theory is not just a laying bare of hypocrisy -- Buber actually gives you a way of taking positive action to enrich your life.
Lest you misunderstand this convoluted review, there is nothing Anthony Robbins-ish about Buber. He's not a rah-rah go team life coach lightweight.
Just read it.
Book Review: A Different Kind of Philosophical Writing
Summary: 4 Stars
Unlike the usual philosophical endeavor, this book does not build an argument or make a case about a particular interpretation of the world or some aspect of it. Rather, Buber's seminal work begins with a key insight into our way of being in the world and goes on to weave an intricate web of variations on this theme, creating, if you let it, a sense of his core insight in the reader's own mind. Reading this book is not about reading a philosophical argument or thesis but rather about giving oneself up to the man and his insight: that there are two fundamental ways for us to be in the world, as subjects relating to objects (in order to use them for ourselves) or as subjects relating to subjects (which recognize ourselves in that which meets us at the other end of the "relation"). For Buber this is what it is all about. And, he tells us, we cannot choose one or the other but must (and do) have both though it is easy for us to lose sight of the subjectness of others when we embrace their objectness. And so he bangs away at the need to see the subjectness, not only in other persons but in other aspects of the world as well, and, indeed, in the world itself, holding that to "see" the subjectness that is there, in the world as a whole (through relating in this manner to its parts), is to see God. And this is where it gets somewhat abstruse for he offers no proof of God in the ordinary sense but rather the assertion alone that we must have access to the subjective aspect of being in order to fully live our lives and that this assumes God. He has no proofs to offer but only an ongoing spiraling prose poem that builds the sense of the world as he has seen it, a realm of subject to subject that overarches and informs the more mundane reality of subject to object in which we are generally mired. If you are looking for a philosophical work that builds an argument with proofs and rational discourse, this is not the book for you. But if you are willing to immerse yourself in his sometimes ecstatic prose, then this offers an experience worth having. Not all philosophy is about building logical edifices or exposing one's thinking to rigorous analytical critiques. Sometimes it's just about insight and seeing the world in a new way. And that is what Buber gave us with this book. -- SWMBook Review: A must read for all who deal with humans
Summary: 5 Stars
I Thou is truly one of the books that changed the way people think. I Thou is a book that has changed the world, and that is not an exaggeration. Buber's influence on counseling and psycho therapy is undenieable. Carl Rogers revised his thinking after his encounter with Buber and I Thou. I Thou teaches fundamental truths about interaction, interpersonal relationships, and true dialog. Martin Buber will long stand as the seminal work for dialog and interpersonal interactions. But, don't take my word for it, read the book.Book Review: Rambling, Random Comments
Summary: 5 Stars
I am actually going to try and do something novel and comment on the product. - I think the way to do that is to comment on Walter Kaufmann's Introduction and Buber's actual thought. There are other translations available, but I think they're out of print. - The attraction of Buber is his universality, and it is this that Kaufmann plays down from the start. Kaufmann emphasizes that Buber is a "Judaic thinker," and while that is certainly true, it is clear that Kaufmann is more concerned with issues of Buber's Jewish identity and his not being a Gentile more than Buber's thought. I find Kaufmann's tendency is in line with Ruth Wisse to a degree - I remember her saying that "Jews want to be left alone" or some such thing in The Modern Jewish Canon. ...
Buber himself probably would agree with Malamud's maxim "All men are Jews, though few men know it." There is something universal about Judaism itself, of course, and it is not simply a matter of identity. It is simply a matter of being human, knowing God, and knowing one's community and one's family. And I know Buber would agree with what I'm saying in this paragraph, because it was through reading Buber I learned these things.
I want to end these comments by saying that this is a book I recommend to everyone I meet; I just wanted you to take Kaufmann's comments with a grain of salt, and maybe earn Buber a disciple before you even read the book.
Book Review: One of the century's greatest
Summary: 5 Stars
Surely I AND THOU ranks among the twentieth century's ten most important books. The extent to which human relationships formconsciousness and selfhood, and how this relates to "God," will be one of the lasting discoveries of the era, and Buber was this work's chief architect.
It is dense material, but there are many mysteriously lovely passages: the part about looking into the eyes of a cat, as if almost able to induce human consciousness, is unforgettable.
In a one-star Amazon review, it complains in somewhat Nietzschean terms (and credit Buber with being one of the earliest scholars to be sufficiently challenged by Nietzsche's insights) that Buber denies "the infinite perfectibility of Man." But consider how effortlessly Buber's text "reads" such a formulation: there is an implicit "I-it" relationship between the speaker and this "Man" whose perfectibility we hope to objectively assess. On the other hand, we are invited to enjoy an "I-you" relationship with the speaker, as subjects judging Man the object.
Now, either the "I-you" relationship we *really* have in mind--without facing our tacit religiosity in the matter--is with God the unobjectifiable, or what we call the "perfecting" process is as imperfect as Man: it is, in the cold light of day, nothing more nor less than whatever action accommodates the objectifiers, however randomly these arbiters of perfection are chosen.