buber elements of the interhuman_handout

8/13/2019 BUBER Elements of the Interhuman_handout

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Martin Buber


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M RTIN BUBERAt 14 Martin Buber went back to live with his father

(and his new wife) in Lemberg. By this time he was

already reading Kant and was soon into Nietzsche.

Martin Buber went onto study in Vienna, Leipzig, Berlin

(under Simmel and Dilthey) and Zurich.
http://members.telering.at/art4u/004b.htm


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Martin Mordechai Buber was born February 8,

1878 in Vienna.

Following the breakdown of his parents'

marriage when he was aged three, he went to

live with his grandparents in Lvov, SalomonBuber, a respected scholar of Jewish tradition

and literature, and Adlele Buber an enthusiastic

reader of literature.


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The Social and the Interhuman

SOCIAL - group of people bound together

characterized by indifference and ignorance.

Each individual existence is enclosed and contained

in a group existence.

Leading elements in groups are inclined to suppress

the personal relation in favor of the purely collective

element.

Main concern is the work of the group


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The Social and the Interhuman

INTERHUMAN- an event that happens between two

persons. Each one recognizes the other as a person.

For each of the two, the other happens as the particular

other, that each becomes aware of the other; his partnerin a living event.

The sphere of the interhuman is one in which a person is

confronted by the other. We call its unfolding thedialogical.


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I. Ways of Introducing/ Presenting

Seemingproceeds from what one wishesto seem; over satisfaction.

presenting a false image of oneself to

the other, hiding ones true self and

pretending to be someone.


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Being - proceeds from what one

really is.

showing what one really is, is

being true to oneself.

In general, the two are found mixedtogether.


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Genuine Seeming

In this situation, nothing is false. The

imitation and the part played is genuine; the

mask, too, is a mask.But the lie takes place in relation to

existence itself.

To yield to seeming is mans essentialcowardice, to resist it is his essential

courage.


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Q: Since many people practice seeming, can we say

that seeming is natural?

A: Many people seem or pretend in order to be

accepted by others. But this only shows that man by

nature longs to be accepted to belong. Mans nature isgood and seeming is not natural.

Q: What is the consequence of seeming?

A:A man who practices seeming will never really beaccepted by others for what he is. It is even possible that

he will forget his natural identity.


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SOLUTION:

One can struggle to come to oneselfone should communicate themselves

to one another as what they are, no

more, no less. (courage)


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II. Personal Making Present

Speechifying = talking past one another. Peopledont speak to one another

Chekov: the only use of family members being

together is to talk past one another.

Sartre: the walls between the partners in a

conversation is simply impassable.

Mans only concern is himself; the inner existence

of the other is his own concern, not mine. dedma


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III.Ways of Influencing

IMPOSITION- influencing others by means of force andmanipulation.

e.g. PROPAGANDISTnot concerned with the person

whom he desires to influence, as a person.

imposes himself on others, doesnt believe in his owncause.

Individual qualities are looked on as burdens


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III.Ways of Influencing

UNFOLDINGunfolds what is there and believes in the

primed powers. Finding in the other the disposition toward

what I myself recognized as true, good and beautiful.

e.g. EDUCATORhe sees each individual as in a positionto become a unique, single person; he sees them in a

process of actualization.

he is the helper of the actualizing forces.influencing by letting the others realize truth according to

his own phase. Influencing without using force or

manipulation.


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Genuine Dialogue

IN A DIALOGUE THERES:

1) ACCEPTANCEto make the other present as a

whole, a unique being; receives him as his partner.

2) OPEN CONVERSATIONmust be willing oneach occasion to say what is really in his mind

without reduction or shifting his ground.

3) OVERCOMING SEMBLANCEdialogue must

constitute authenticity of being, or else must

damage it.


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Genuine Dialogue

To turn to the other in all truth also means

imagining the real, accepting the wholeness of

the other, including his real potentialities and thetruth of what he cannot say.

To confirm the other does not mean approval.

Even if I disagree with him, I can accept him asmy partner in genuine dialogue; I affirm him as a

person.


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Genuine Dialogue

Further, for genuine dialogue to arise, every

participant must bring himself to it. He must be

willing to say what is really in his mind about the

subject matter.

This is different from unreserved speech, where I

just talk and talk.

Genuine Dialoguecannot be arranged

beforehand, the course is of the SPIRIT.


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Silence can also be dialogue.

Words sometimes are thesource of

misunderstanding. (ZENBuddhism)

buber elements of the interhuman_handout

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