Buber, Martin (1878–1965)

Abstract

AbstractMartin Buber, born in Vienna, 1878, is best known for his dialogical thought (I and Thou, 1922), editions of Chassidic lore, and translation of the Hebrew Bible into German (together with Franz Rosenzweig). He also emerged as a significant figure in social and political thought of his time. He studied at the universities of Vienna, Leipzig, and Berlin, most notably under Wilhelm Dilthey and Georg Simmel, who had a lasting influence on Buber's social thought. Buber's earliest political writings reflect his brief involvement in the nascent Zionist movement under Theodor Herzl before withdrawing from the movement in 1902. Buber understood Zionist politics as “cultural politics,” whereby “culture,” as he wrote in 1903, could not be conceived as merely “spiritual” but meant the synthetic and organized striving of productivity for freedom.