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Relating to an Other and Relating to Others: A Buberian Outlook on Plurality and Togetherness beyond the Immediate Encounter
Authors: Strammer Philip
Year: 2021
Type of publication: ostatní - konference, koncert
Page from-to: nestránkováno
Titles:
Language Name Abstract Keywords
eng Relating to an Other and Relating to Others: A Buberian Outlook on Plurality and Togetherness beyond the Immediate Encounter Although the I-You lies at the core of Martin Buber’s philosophy, his thought is not only concerned with dyadic relations. This becomes clear when looking at his social and political writings. The notion of a loving togetherness is crucial for him, be it between I and You or between a plurality of individuals. But how exactly are we to understand the dyadic togetherness to be related to the togetherness of the many? In What is Man?, Buber addresses this issue: what is the “essential You” in the dyadic relation is the “essential We” in a relation of a plurality of men in that both are marked by a “ontic directness” and a sense of “genuine community” between those involved. Yet, it is striking that Buber passes directly from the individual You to the We. It seems that for Buber, even when we speak of plurality, we always do it in addressing a individual other. But is not an important part of our participation in a togetherness of many to be able to address not only an other but also others? Or do we have to say that, ultimately, there is no such thing as addressing a plurality? In my paper, I will explore the possibility of standing in a dialogue with a plurality of others while, at the same time, holding fast to Buber’s fundamental insight into the dialogical nature of man’s existence. In doing so, I want to fathom to which extent the I-You (pl.) can be accounted for in terms of the I-You (sg.) and to which extent it must be accounted for in sui generis terms. To that end, I will examine three notions that are of central importance in Buber’s dialogism, exclusiveness, directness, and reciprocity, and show how they become challenged – or show themselves to simply become inappropriate – when trying to understand what it means for an I to relate to a plural-You. As regards exclusiveness, Buber holds that if I wholeheartedly relate to You, my attention will lie exclusively on you, I will be concerned exclusively with you, etc. But is that not obviously impossible when re

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