Final Term Paper
Freshmen Ivy 6
Yoo Jin, Lee
Sunday, June 12, 2004



"All real living is meeting" -Martin Buber(1958:25)
This book title can show you most of the unique theory of Martin Buber. This implies the main theme of his philosophy. In here, the exact meanings of 'All real living' and 'Meeting' are very special. 'All real living' means living one's life with knowing oneself well and also knowing the others well. He says that from this process, one can get the truth of one's life. 'Meeting' implies not just simply facing each other or talking with each other, but having a deep relationship with profound faith in you and the other, which is having I-Thou relationship. Consequently, from the saying "All real living is meeting", he is trying to tell you that without genuine relationships, one's life will get meaningless.
The author of this book, I and Thou was born in 1878 and died in 1965. In his life time, there were many plots that influenced his philosophy and also his writing. There are four main points that built up his mind. First is his faith in Zionism. Generally, Zionism is the word for the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel. After Zionism, he engaged in Judaism which made him have a stronger faith in God. With these two aspects, he led the co-operation of Jews and Arabs. He built many institutions for the peace between them. For all his life, he had left famous lectures which affected a lot of students. This book was written in 1958, and it was about 7 years before his death. Most of his life and philosophy is expressed in this novel. I and Thou. In I and Thou, he suggests two kinds of relationships. One is called I-It, and the other is called I-Thou. I-It relation has no real contact with each other. I meet and talk with the other for a special purpose. For example, it can be for money, getting some information, or one's eye. I-It relation can't give you any differences or true effect. On the other hand I-Thou relation is totally the opposite. You get aware of others and understand them as much as you understand yourself. There is a change and effect on you. He says there are some alterations between them. Sometimes I-It relation can change to I-Thou relation, and also the opposite, too. For an example, a few years ago, there was a program in YMCA that made dads and daughters meet and communicate with their hearts. From these courses the relationship between dads and daughter is getting closer to I-Thou relation. One more important point of this novel is, when you are able to have I-Thou relation, the next step is to have I-Thou relation with God. He asserts you can communicate without a language and fully believe God.
This novel is widely used for teaching American students in school. American teachers recommend this novel to students, certainly because there are many things that you need to learn from his novel. The two main reasons are, first, suggesting distinction in relationships, with the two contrary attitude toward others. If you start to think about how you divide different kinds of relations, how many are there?, how are they divided? Everybody would have different numbers and standards. He says there are two. From reading this book, you get to learn about an expert's thought. You would go back to your past, and think what you did, what kind of relations you had with your family, friends, teachers. Did you only think of getting good scores, or having spiritual communication when you are meeting your teachers? This simple question would make you think again and again. You would maybe reflect yourself, feel proud of yourself.
Second, this novel makes you think yourself as more than an individual. It makes you think as part of groups. Whether you have I-It relation or I-Thou with others, you can't make a relation alone. Like Einstein said "When we survey our lives and endeavors we soon observe that almost the whole of our actions and desires are bound up with the existence of other human beings.", it is impossible to live alone as an individual. Making relations is needed for both yourself and the others. You learn your true mind and heart from others and also you can make them know theirs by having relations. For teenagers, school may be the most important place where we make relations. Researchers of the book on relation say, while family is the most important social environment, school is the second most important environment for a child's development of his or her identity. Since a school is a big group of teachers, and students, you would have to have the mind that you are an essential member, and you are all tied up with numerous strings.
On the contrary to these two reasons, there are some dark sides in this book, and his philosophy. First, having as many I-Thou relations as you can, doesn't mean everything. In modern society, there are many situations where you need to make I-It relations. For instance, let's say you are a businessman. You would make a lot of contacts with other businessmen. In that case, do you have to try to make I-Thou relation with them? Even though he said that there are some alterations between the two kinds of relations, he is focusing on I-Thou rather than I-It relation. He thinks I-It relation means nothing, and there are no connections between them. However, most of the relations we have would be I-It, not I-Thou. There are so many people around us who are all different. At last, there will be just people left, who had I-Thou relation with you. It is certain that I-Thou relation is significant, but I-It relation exists more in this society. Then we also have to be some emphasis on I-It relation. It will also be a too narrow-minded to conclude that I-It relation is meaningless.
Another point is that he indirectly insists God-believers are superior to unbelievers. There are two big groups in the world, the God-believers and unbelievers. No one has the right to criticize or think the other group as inferior to their group. It is their freedom to choose. If you see his philosophy closer, he says that there are two kinds of relations, and I-Thou is on the top of them. Then he insists there are three kinds of relations. They are relations with nature, other humans, and spiritual beings. He again says, out of the three, the relation with spiritual beings is the most developed step. How about unbelievers? Aren't they developed yet as God-believers are? The subject on Believing God or not has to be separated from I-It and I-Thou relation. Whether the writer is a God-believer, he first needs to think various readers with various religions.
On the other hand, these two dark sides can be also seen in a more positive view. It is true that there are more of I-It relations than I-Thou relations at present. They are surely momentous to human life. Maybe, telling that I-It relation has no connection between people is going too far, considering the present society. However, he is trying to emphasize I-Thou relation, not denying I-It relation because he thought I-Thou relation is more needed for this world. Although you know so many people around you, you would get to feel lonely when you have no I-Thou relation. I-It relation works just when people have special purposes like I said above. If they achieve their goal and lose their purpose on you, they wouldn't really want to have closer relation with you, they would try to get further, and try to meet others. In case of I-Thou relation, it would last forever and make your life ultimately easier. This message seems to be what he was trying to deliver to readers.
There were some parts that can make unbelievers angry with him and this book. To see the bight side, that anger can help you build your belief much stronger. If you are an unbeliever, you would have some opposing points to his philosophy, and have some time to reflect your way of thinking. If you still think your way of thinking is right, it is right, there is no one who would criticize or punish you. From reading some other scholars' views, you get to grow in spiritual ways. Especially, in case of Martin Buber, he is widely known for his unique philosophy, and powerful teacher. In the book 'Encounter with Martin Buber' by Aubrey Hodes(1927), Aubrey says 'He was basically a teacher - for me, the greatest of our generation.' It is worth reading a book written by this kind of author. Many readers get confused, but he was not a stubborn man with his philosophy. Again in the book by Hodes, he says 'He did not try to impose a self-evident formula upon his pupils, but posed questions which forced them to find their own answers.'. He gave some chances to think by themselves. The pros of this book are distinction of relations to I-It, I-Thou, and the importance of being in various groups. The cons are too much concentration on I-Thou, and insisting the superiority of God-believers to unbelievers. The cons were also viewed in other positive ways. In 2000, the United States decided to teach about religions to their precollegiate classrooms. In the past, it was reported that this subject was too sensitive and potentially explosive. Nonetheless, the U.S government thought they need to learn this subject. They thought it is necessary to know at least the basic concept of each religion. I agree to the choice of U.S government. Some people would say books about religions are not instructive, but they teach you how to live and how the whole world is working. The book I and Thou has to be read sometime, and if it is in teenage-period, it would be much more beneficial to their life.
'Works Citied'
Aubrey Hodes, "Encounter with Martin Buber", (New York, Viking Press, 1972), p.136-137, p.140
Ho-Teak Won, Hyun-Soon Park, ¡°Relation between people, and adoption(Àΰ£°ü°è¿Í ÀûÀÀ-»îÀ» À§ÇÑ ½É¸®ÇÐ)¡±, (Seoul University publishing department, March 25, 2003), p. 119
Debra Viadero, "Religion Gaining Attention As Curriculum Topic", Education Week, November 29, 2000.
Amy Dickinson, "Dads and Daughters", Time, May 13, 2002.
'A definition of Zionism': http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Zionism/zionism.html
'Marin Buber on Education: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-buber.htm
'Philosophy of Religion Courses Notes "I and Thou" by Martin Buber':
http://www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us/longview/socsci/philosophy/religion/buber.htm