Martin Buber's main proposition is that we may address existence in two ways: [1] that of the "I" towards an "It", towards an object that is separate in itself, which we either use or experience; [2] that of the 'I' towards 'Thou', in which we move into existence in a relationship without bounds. One of the major themes of the book is that human life finds its meaningfulness in relationships. All of our relationships, Buber contends, bring us ultimately into relationship with God, who is the Eternal Thou.
We will discuss Buber’s existential interpersonal system and compare and contrast it with other interpersonal systems from existentialism (Heidegger, Sartre, etc.) and other intellectual movements (Marx, modernism, postmodernism, Idealism, Transcendentalism, Kantianism and neo-Kantianism).
(The disucssion will take place in English.)