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In I and Thou (1923), the philosopher Martin Buber describes two ways of relating to the world. In “I-It”, we experience or deal with something as an object; in “I-Thou”, we meet the other without reducing the encounter to use or analysis. He didn't reject I-It, saying we can't live without it, but he warned against living in it alone.

Martin Buber, I and Thou (1923)

Philosophy

The story behind the card

Buber (1878–1965) was a Jewish philosopher born in Vienna who spent his later years in Jerusalem. Ich und Du appeared in German in 1923 and in English in 1937, translated by Ronald Gregor Smith. Its influence reached well beyond philosophy: the psychologist Carl Rogers drew on it for person-centred therapy, which treats the client as an equal, and Martin Luther King, in his 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail, wrote that segregation replaces an I-Thou relationship with an I-It one, treating people as things. Buber also held that a true encounter cannot be forced: it comes to us unsought, though we still choose whether to answer it.

Türkçe oku
Filozof Martin Buber, Ben ve Sen'de (1923) iki tür ilişki anlatır. “Ben-O” ilişkisinde karşımızdakine nesne gibi bakar, onu kullanır ya da inceleriz. “Ben-Sen” ilişkisinde ise onu işimize yarayıp yaramamasına bakmadan, olduğu gibi karşılarız. Buber Ben-O'suz yaşanamayacağını kabul eder, ama hayatı ona indirgemeye karşı uyarır.

Buber (1878–1965), Viyana'da doğmuş bir Yahudi filozoftu; son yıllarını Kudüs'te geçirdi. Ich und Du 1923'te Almanca yayımlandı, 1937'de Ronald Gregor Smith'in çevirisiyle İngilizceye kazandırıldı. Kitabın etkisi felsefenin çok ötesine uzandı: Psikolog Carl Rogers, danışanı eşit bir insan olarak gören danışan merkezli terapiyi geliştirirken ondan yararlandı. Martin Luther King de 1963'teki Birmingham Hapishanesinden Mektup'ta, ırk ayrımının Ben-Sen ilişkisinin yerine Ben-O ilişkisini koyduğunu, insanları birer eşyaya çevirdiğini yazdı. Buber'e göre gerçek karşılaşma zorla elde edilemez; aranmadan gelir, ama ona karşılık verip vermemek yine bize kalmıştır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: I and Thou
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