Historical Who is Who
BUBER, Martin
1878 - 1965
Austria-Germany/Hungary
PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION
German educated, Jewish social philosopher for whom engagement with Hasidic life and thought and threat from Nazism inspired relocation to Palestine in 1938. His Zionist commitment was qualified by a sense of territory shared with Palestinians; he was a ‘Hebrew Humanist’. He published and lectured widely but his I and Thou book is what he is best known for. Whilst he was critical of self-centredness in philosophy, his own focus on the specialness of I-Thou relations led to criticism that that undervalues more inclusive I-You ones. He is central to the development of Jewish-Christian dialogue with its spirit of mutual appreciation, rooted in a sense of the ‘Eternal Thou’.
Life
Writings