Martin Buber
Jewish · Europe · 1878 to 1965
Austrian-born Jewish thinker who held that real life is found in meeting others as "you", not as things to use.
What it is
Martin Buber (1878 to 1965) was a Jewish philosopher, religious thinker and educator. He was born in Vienna, was raised by his grandparents in Lemberg, now Lviv, and worked in Germany before moving to Jerusalem in 1938. He was hard to place under any one label.
He is best known for a short book, I and Thou (1923), which says that there are two basic ways of standing toward whatever is before us. One is to meet it as a whole other being, the other is to treat it as a thing.
The main ideas
- I and Thou. In the I-Thou relation, a person meets another as a whole being. In the I-It relation, the other is treated as a thing to be used.
- Distance and relation. In his later essays, he describes human beings as creatures who set the world at a distance and also enter into relation with it.
- Stories and scripture. He retold tales from the Hasidic tradition, and with Franz Rosenzweig he began a translation of the Hebrew Bible into German.
- Shared land. He was a lifelong Zionist, and he argued for cooperation between Jews and Arabs and for a state shared by both peoples.
What it looks like in practice
Picture someone who has a long conversation with a colleague while quietly checking what they can get from it. Buber would ask what changes if they simply listen to the other person as a person. This is an illustration of the idea, not a passage from his writing.
Books and moments
- 1904. He received his doctorate at Vienna.
- I and Thou (1923) is his best-known work.
- Frankfurt, 1923 to 1933. He taught at the University of Frankfurt.
- The Bible translation began in collaboration with Franz Rosenzweig and is counted among his major works.
- 1938. He moved to Jerusalem and taught social philosophy at the Hebrew University.
Questions and criticism
- Philosopher or not. He said himself that it is hard to say whether he was a philosopher, a theologian or something else, and it is fair to ask what that means for how his ideas should be judged.
- Can it be put into rules. An encounter cannot be planned, so it is fair to ask what guidance his view can give.
- A shared state. It is fair to ask what a state shared by two peoples would need, and how his call for one should be read.
Close neighbours
The page on Franz Rosenzweig shows the thinker with whom he began the Bible translation.
Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 29 October 2026. The sources are listed below.
Who they connect to
Influenced by
- Søren Kierkegaard · He took up the stress on the single person in relation to what is beyond.
Other Jewish thinkers
- Philo of Alexandria · 20 BCE to 50
- Saadia Gaon · 882 to 942
- Judah Halevi · 1075 to 1141
- Moses Maimonides · 1138 to 1204
- Moses Mendelssohn · 1729 to 1786
- Franz Rosenzweig · 1886 to 1929
Sources we used
- Martin Buber · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, read on 29 October 2026
- Buber, Martin · Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, read on 29 October 2026