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Martin Buber

Martin Buber ( 8 February 1878 - 13 June 1965 ) was a philosopher , storyteller and teacher of Israel and Austria.

Summary

1 Biography
2 His philosophy
- 2.1 "Any real life is encounter"
- 2.2 I and Thou (Ich und Du)
3 Works
4 Bibliography
5 External Links

/ / Biography

Martin Buber, Mordechai was born into a Jewish family in Vienna rather assimilated. His grandfather, Solomon, with whom he often stayed after his parents separated, his house in Lemberg (then in Poland (Galicia, now Ukraine ), was a renowned scholar in the field of tradition and Jewish literature.

He received a full education, and at least multilingual: they speak at home Yiddish and German , he learned the Hebrew and French in his childhood, and the Polish during his high school.

In 1892 he returned to his father's house, facing a religious crisis that led him to temporarily break away from Judaism. During this period, he learned to Kant and Nietzsche.

In 1896 , he went to study philosophy, Germanic philology and art history in Vienna. In 1898, he joined the movement Zionist least for political reasons or religious or cultural, and be an active and engaged. A dispute with Theodor Herzl on the way, both political and cultural Zionism should take. In 1899, a student at Zurich , he met Paula Winkler, his future wife.

In 1902 , Martin Buber edits the Zionist magazine Die Welt , which became the most famous of the movement.

In 1903 , he (re) discovers the Hasidic Judaism , and withdrew somewhat from the organization of the Zionist movement, to devote himself to writing in 1904. That year he published his dissertation, Beitrge zur Geschichte des Individuationsproblems ("Contributions to the history of the problem of individuation").

In 1906 he published Die Geschichten of Rabbi Nachman, a collection of Rabbi Nahman of Breslav , a figure of Hasidic movement, including Martin Buber tries to renew the message and scope. In 1908 he published Die Legende of Baalschem (The Legend of Baal Shem Tov ), founder of Hasidism.

From 1910 to 1914 , he studied the myths and mythical texts reissued. In 1916 he left Berlin for Heppenheim.
During the First World War , he participated in the creation of the National Jewish Commission to improve the lives of Jews in Eastern Europe. He also became editor of Der Jude , a monthly Jewish. In 1921 , he made the acquaintance of Franz Rosenzweig. Soon they began their first collaboration with Franz Rosenzweig for Freies Jdisches Lehrhaus.

In 1923 , he wrote his greatest masterpiece, I and Thou (Ich und Du). In 1924 , he ceased publishing Der Jude. In 1925 , he began with Rosenzweig, translating the Bible into German. It is less a translation than a transposition of the Hebrew to German, a process they call Verdeutschung (germanification "), where they do not hesitate to reinvent the rules of grammar and language German stick to the spirit of the original text.

From 1924 to 1933 he taught philosophy at the Jewish religious Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main.
The reason for his resignation is naturally the accession of Hitler to power. Authorities Nazi prohibit him lecture on 4 October 1933.
He founded the Central Agency for Jewish adult education, which is gaining importance as the Nazis prohibit Jews from attending any public institution. Of course, the Nazi administration soon to encroach on the operation of this organization.

Finally, he left Germany in 1938 and settled in Jerusalem. He was offered a professorship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , where he teaches courses of anthropology and sociology.

He quickly took an active part in the problems faced by Jews in Palestine and with their Arab neighbors, while working on his writing and translation of the Bible and its stories Hasidic. He joined the party Yi'houd, working on a better understanding between Israelis and Arabs, making himself the apostle of a bi-national state and democratic Palestine. In 1946 he published the Way to Utopia.

After the Second World War , Martin Buber began a lecture tour in Europe and the United States and outlines a merger with German intellectuals. He was awarded the Goethe at the University of Hamburg in 1951.

In 1958 , his wife Paula died shortly before he received the Israel Prize.
In 1963 , he received the Erasmus Prize in Amsterdam.

On 13 June 1965 , Martin Buber died in his house in the neighborhood of Talbiyeh in Jerusalem.

His philosophy

German stamp (1978) for the centenary of the birth of Buber

"All real life is encounter"

The human being "Buberian" is essentially homo dialogus, and can not be accomplished without communicating with humanity, creation and Creator. It is also homo religiosus, for love of humanity leads to love God and each other. It is unthinkable to talk to men without speaking to God, and vice versa. The Divine Presence is therefore involved in any genuine encounter between human beings and lives those who bring about genuine dialogue.

The dialogue is based on reciprocity and accountability, which exists only where there is actual response to the human voice. Interact with each other, is to face reality and take in the life lived. Dialogue with God is no different: His "speech" is a real presence, to be answered. For Buber, the Bible shows that dialogue between the Creator and his creatures, and God listens to man, to intercede for those on whom God's wrath should befall or beg the Creator to manifest His providence.

I and Thou (Ich und Du)

In his most famous work, I and Thou (1935), Martin Buber stresses the dual attitude towards the world: the relationship I-Thou and I-it relationship.

Neither I nor you do not live separately, they exist only in the context of I-Thou, above the sphere of the I and the sphere of You.
Similarly, neither I nor that exist separately, they exist only in the sphere of the I-it.
The I-Thou relationship is absolute only in respect of God - the eternal Thou - and can not be fully realized in other areas of life, including human relations, or I-Thou is often I-up to this (I-Thou or I-it does not depend on the nature of the object, but the report that the subject establishes with the object). Human beings can not be transfigured and access to the authentic life that if he enters the I-Thou relationship, confirming "the otherness of the other", which implies a total commitment: "The first word I "You can not be said that with the whole being, while the primary word I-It can never be called with the whole being." You and I are two sovereign beings, none of which seeks to impress each other or to use it.
According to Buber, man can live without dialogue, but who never met a "You is not really a human being. However, anyone who enters the world of dialogue taking a considerable risk since the I-Thou relationship requires full opening of I, which are thus exposed to a denial and a total rejection.
Subjective reality is rooted in I-Thou dialogue, while the I-instrumental relationship that is rooted in the monologue, which transforms the world and the human being into an object. In the order of the monologue, the other is reified - it is perceived and used - whereas in the order of the dialogue, it is encountered, recognized and named as being singular. To qualify the monologue, Buber speaks of Erfahrung (experience "superficial" external attributes of the other) or (experience domestic insignificant), it opposes - the genuine relationship that occurs between two people humans.

These views exist as to individualism, where the other is perceived in relation to oneself, as the collective perspective, where the individual is obscured in favor of the company (some have used this idea to explain the biblical passage "the dispersal of languages" there is no person mentioned, the single language is a unique voice. Babel entire lives under the boot of a leader who did that an idea: meet God. It intervenes by raising the feeling of being whole, not reified)
For Buber, a person can live in the full sense of the term in the inter-human sphere: "On the narrow ridge where I and Thou meet, in the intermediate zone," which is an existential reality - an event that ontic actually occurs between two human beings.

Works

I and Thou (1935), trans., Aubier-Montaigne, 1992, ISBN 2-7007-3088-7
The Tales of Rabbi Nachman , Stock, 1981
Hasidic Tales, trans. Editions du Rocher, 1985, coll. "Gnosis", ISBN 2-268-00018-4
The Legend of Baal-Shem ( Baal Shem Tov ), trans. Editions du Rocher, 1993, coll. "The great spiritual texts," ISBN 2268016218
One Country, Two Peoples.
Selected Letters of Martin Buber: 1899-1965 (introduction, translation and notes, Dominique Heymann Bourel and Florence), ed. CNRS, coll. "The books of CRFJ. Men and societies, " 2004. - 317 p., 24 cm. ISBN 2-271-06258-6.
The path of man, Editions du Rocher, coll. "The great spiritual texts.
Two types of faith (1950), trans., Cerf, 1991, coll. "Heritage", ISBN 978-2204040815

Bibliography

Amedeo Bertolo , Jews and Anarchists: The Story of a meeting, Editions de l'Eclat al. "Library Foundations, 2008 ( ISBN 2841621618 ).
Robert Misrahi , Martin Buber: Philosopher of the relationship, Editions Seghers, coll. "Philosophers of all time," 1968.
Shestov Leon , Martin Buber. A mystic German language, in Speculation and revelation (Oumozrenie Otkrovenie i), Ed: The Age of Man, 1990 ( ISBN 2825122335 ).
Theodore Dreyfus Martin Buber: Synthesis Buber himself, his message, his philosophy, Editions du Cerf, coll. "Spiritual witnesses today," 1981.