Martin Buber’s dialogical thought in his I and thou: A Basis of Interfaith Dialogue

Abstract

Buber’s philosophy of dialogue has won him worldwide recognition that insures him a place among the great philosophers of our time. He succeeded in elucidating the structural aspect of the fundamental human situation particularly in his work entitled I and Thou. In this work., Buber discusses the philosophy of intersubjectivity which he strongly believes can rescue us from either the impasse of an individualism which considers the individual solely in reference to -him/herself or:the other impasse of a collectivism which has eyes only for society. These are indeed but complementary expressions of a single state of affairs, a humanity uprooted that no longer feels at home in the cosmos, understood as the harmonious totality of the universe, and that has moreover, seen the circumscribed communities such as the family, of which everyone used to feel him/herself a member, collapse. It is in this perspective that we have decided to consider Martin Bubers dialogical thought as the basis for an authentic dialogue among different religions which can become fruitful if and only if the stakeholders relate as I and Thou but not as I and It. This paper is an attempt to discuss the views that Martin Buber set forth to discuss in his book, I and Thou, particularly his views of the self and the relationship between persons and persons, and persons and things, which he calls a dialogic approach' and to point out that this dialogical approach can form the basis for a true dialogue among different faiths especially with regard to his idea that the realm of the interhuman goes far beyond that of sympathy.