I-Thou Relation Research Articles

Working on the future of group analysis – breaking the certainty

The idea of a social nature of humans clarifies that the phenomena, usually called intrapsychic, such as mind, freedom and ethics are shared property of the group. How does this idea manifest in the group situation? I present some of my reflections and experiences from practice related to this issue. We can see how the desire for sharing and addressing others creates a new, deeper understanding of relations in the group. I describe how a fellow member unpredictably can become the Other. The I-Thou relations, developed in the group, are ethical in their essence, and it is in these ethical relations that trust is created. Such processes never give the feeling of complete understanding and equality. Something is always missing and this is what drives the group to go beyond.

Resolving Conflict and Building Peace Through Re-Thinking Community Relationship

Abstract This study aims at appraising the nature of two major community relationships (I-Thou and I-It) in Ethiopia and analyse how these types of relationships play a corresponding role in resolving or exacerbating conflict and building/deteriorating peace. This study adopted an exploratory research design and primary data is collected from different social and mainstream media. The I-Thou relationship is a genuine societal relationship that led to a genuine dialogue between groups, which, in turn, creates mutual understanding, enrichment, reciprocity, and enlightenment. The I-It relationship, on the other hand, is characterised by mutual suspicion, prejudice, misunderstanding, wearing masks, and keeping secrets where there is no genuine dialogue. The study explores that the type of relationship that best characterise the Ethiopian society is mainly the I-It relationship. Since the society is polarised mainly based on ethnic and linguistic lines, the relationship has resulted in conflict, mass killing, displacement, and gross human right violations.

Maslow’s Views on Technology and Culture: A Millennial’s Response to “Toward a Humanistic Biology”

In this article, the author responds to Abraham Maslow’s 1969 article, “Toward a Humanistic Biology,” from their perspective as a millennial-humanistic practitioner and scholar. The article calls attention to Maslow’s perception of the I-Thou relationship and discusses its connection to his perceptions of technology. Maslow’s views on the “superior” human or self-actualizing person are examined from a critical millennial-humanistic lens, and its implications on culture are addressed. The author provides suggestions on how the field of humanistic psychology can advance from the topics explored.

The True Ring Cannot Be Worn: A Panikkarian Way out of the Logic of the Three Rings

The Parable of the Three Rings is famous in its versions by Boccaccio and Lessing. They share the fundamental idea that only one religion is true but human condition does not let us know which one is the true one. It is an inherently modern idea to stress on the limits of human knowledge while arguing against pure forms of skepticism and relativism. The result of the parable is friendship in both versions, yet the question of truth remains at the center of the conceptual framework underlying the stories. On the contrary, scholars started giving much more relevance to the ethical side of dialogue, so that interpersonal relationship is not just the result of a cognitive process. Personal encounter should be prior to the question of truth. This new approach is challenged by the nature of the relationship with the other. Should it be symmetrical and mutual? Views on dialogue inspired by Lévinas must answer negatively. If we want to keep the relevance of friendship we should rather prefer Buber’s idea of dialogue. In our world, despite this, inequalities are such that symmetry and mutuality cannot be the standard condition of dialogue and we must be responsible in advance for the other (in the sense of Lévinasian servitude for the other). A mediation between these two standpoints can be found in Panikkar’s notion of inter-in-dependence, as I shall argue. In fact, this notion combines the interdependence present in Buber’s I-Thou relationship and the independence or separation stressed by Lévinas in the relation to the other understood in terms of relation between absolute terms.

Взаимосвязь человека и робота как феномен социального взаимодействия

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objective</strong><strong>.</strong> Development of general theoretical and methodological concepts for the analysis of the interaction "human-robot" as a holistic human-technological gestalt; introduction into scientific circulation of the concept of human-technological reality; the formulation of the author's definition of personal space as a methodological basis for the study of human-technological relations.<br><strong>Background.</strong> The creation of high-tech computer cognitive agents and humanoid robots are becoming a priority subject of scientific research in various fields of knowledge. The main difficulty in moving towards any single generally valid results lies in the fact that in each discipline the problem is investigated within the framework of its inherent terminology. The multivariance of interpretations of studies of human-social robot interaction is especially observed between representatives of the humanities, specialists in the field of artificial intelligence and engineering programming. There is a need for a systematic elaboration of the conceptual and categorical apparatus used to describe the phenomena of human-technological reality, in which a person coexists with new technological beings, is called upon to establish a certain level of relations with them, redistribute personal space, and form new models of social interaction.<br><strong>Methodology.</strong> Convergent approach, system analysis, principle of integrity, typology of relations "I-Thou" by S.L. Frank.<br><strong>Conclusions.</strong> Consideration of the typology of I-Thou relations, the author's definition of personal space, the introduction into scientific circulation of the concept of human-technological reality, highlighting the features of human-technological relations are proposed for use as a conceptual and methodological toolkit for researching human-robot interaction as a phenomenon of social interaction.</p>

On the Hermeneuticus I as a Presupposition of Ethical Hermeneutics

The goal of this paper is to ground the concept of hermeneuticus I based on Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophy. Just as we can speak of a Cartesian I or Humean I, I intend to justify the existence of a hermeneuticus I by highlighting one’s posture (Tugend) towards the others. Although neither Gadamer nor his interpreters have coined or discussed this concept from the point of view of ethics, I think it is possible to do so according to the assumption that our peculiar way of being is understanding. In this way, I intend to begin paving the way for the construction of a Hermeneutical Ethics. I propose to do this based on the well-known I-Thou triadic relationship developed by Gadamer in Truth and Method I. Initially, I describe the posture of the two Is and show that their way of relating with the Thou is not hermeneutic. Then, according to Gadamer, I present the third type of I-Thou relationship by systematizing seven ethical postures proper to the hermeneuticus I, which are founded upon the I’s exercise of putting himself or herself in the place of the other, without the intention of instrumentalizing the latter. Finally, I develop conclusions and ethical and sociopolitical implications resulting from the action (praxis) of the hermeneuticus I.

시설보호아동과의 치료적 관계에 대한 미술치료사의 체험연구

The purpose of this study was to understand art therapists’ experience on therapeutic relationship with institutionalized children. This study was conducted, using the hermeneutic phenomenological research method, and the data was collected from interviews of 6 participants. The collected data was analyzed and 3 essential themes and 6 subthemes were defined. The essential themes were first, the beginning of new encounter; second, relationships deepening within the boundary of art; third, preparations for separation. The conclusion of the study are as follows: first, the participants have personal I-Thou relationship with the institutionalized children. Second, the participants build up trust-based ethical love relationship with the institutionalized children. Third, the participants form a win-win relationship of fusion of horizon through art-making with the institutionalized children. This study has significance in strengthening the understanding on institutionalized children and providing core data for art therapy of the children

Interreligous I-Thou Encounter

The lack of communication with the wider social context and the persistent problem of one-sided communication are the challenges facing the church today. To borrow Pual Knitter’s words, this problem may lie on the fact that Korean Christianity is built on the total replacement model. Within this frame of mind, Christians listen to religious others only to replace them with Christianity. However, when we take globalization into our consideration, Korean churches need to be equipped for the new landscape in which their potential congregants live. More religious as well as cultural diversity exists today in South Korea than a generation ago. The possibility of encountering religious others as clients is wide open. When I take globalization into consideration, it becomes a more mind-boggling question as to how I can initiate I-Thou relationships with religious others. In this study, I will look into some ways to bring about transformation within the context of interreligious care and counseling based on my personal experience. What I want to accomplish through this study is to explore ways for spiritual care and counseling to be transformative, particularly in an interreligious care and counseling setting. I attempt to investigate the usefulness of the RCT model for interreligious spiritual care and counseling settings in light of the wisdom of scholars’ endeavors in interreligious dialogue. I am drawn to the RCT model as opposed to traditional Freudian theory, especially for the interreligious care and counseling setting. Here, I would like to expound how the RCT model puts an emphasis on mutuality between counselors and counselees by reconceptualizing the meaning of countertransference. Mutuality within the RCT model will be discussed with Martin Buber’s I-Thou framwork and John Gottman’s relationship theory. In addition, I will look into the necessity of interreligious counselors and those they counsel developing a differentiated self. I wish we Christian counselors and ministers could value and further celebrate the otherness of religious others in our care settings. Then, spiritual care and counseling could be life-giving and transformative.

From Diagnosis to Therapeutic Empathy: A Journey into Recognition

From Diagnosis to Therapeutic EmpathyA Journey into Recognition Francesca Brencio (bio) Conceptually, recognition claims a cardinal role in many prominent philosophical theories. Kant, in the Critique of Pure Reason, uses the German word Rekognition—a term that in many ways has no antecedent in prior tradition—to signify the identification, the grasping of, a unified meaning through thought (Kant, 1998). However, it is through Hegel that a substantial step in practical philosophy is taken, and recognition is put into dialogue with self-consciousness and freedom. Hegel uses the German word Anerkennung, in the period of Jena Realphilosophie, to mean the "real" actualization of freedom through a struggle which leads to two different levels of recognition: legal and moral—their forms constituted by love and the state (Hegel, 1996). Hegel's notion of recognition is peculiar as it endeavors to satisfy a threefold quest: First, it ensures the link between self-reflection and orientation toward the other; in other words, the reciprocal determination of the relation between self and intersubjectivity. Secondly, recognition guarantees the dynamism of the movement which proceeds from the negative toward the positive, as stated in the Preface to The Phenomenology of Spirit. Finally, it draws those systematic aspects which will be articulated into hierarchical levels corresponding to specific institutions (Honneth, 1996). Precisely in the fourth chapter of The Phenomenology of Spirit, we encounter a self who is a purposive agent struggling for recognition, and we see how the transition from desire (Begierde) to recognition becomes the central point for subjectivity and its social features. Conceived as a process, recognition is not a "static" concept, rather it is a "movement" which concerns both subjectivity and intersubjectivity: it unveils the self as never isolated but rather always embedded into a plural dimension in which the I-Thou relationship is the pre-condition of the We-ness of existence (Binswanger, 1993). The theoretical foundation of recognition shows us that recognition is a task which is accomplished by many struggles, whose ethical and epistemic aspects are closely linked, as opposed to being an automatic mechanism (Stanghellini, 2017). In the field of psychotherapy, this bond and the related struggles are pivotal. A person-centered approach is possible only if both the patient and the therapist can achieve a mutual and challenging recognition which implies not only the therapeutic relationship but also the construction of a therapeutic empathy centered on three main features: understanding, communicating and acting in a helpful therapeutic way (Howick, Bizzari, & Dambha-Miller, 2018). When we refer to recognition in the broad scenario [End Page 11] of mental health, we do not refer to the automatic and standardized pattern-recognition processes which take place into the diagnostic process. Instead, we refer to a complex and nuanced process which involves the individual subjects implicated into this process—the I–Thou relation and the meaning-making process. If we want to trace the roots of this process, we must go back to Freud, who claims that the recognition of alterity is an indiscernible part of our subjecthood: Freud paves the way to the reconciliation between the person and their own alterity (Freud, 1914). However, the journey from diagnosis to therapeutic empathy is complicated and infeasible if we depart from the issue of recognition. The quest (and struggle) for recognition calls into discussion both the very process of diagnosis and the epistemic models which ground the diagnostic classification systems, showing the limits of certain metaphysical views in understanding psychopathological phenomena (Zachar, 2014) as well as the need for reassessing those concepts and values at the core of therapeutic practices (Brencio & Bauer 2020). On the faint trail leading from diagnosis to therapeutic empathy, the contribution of Gilardi and Stanghellini is particularly illuminating and it shows how the struggle for recognition is a struggle in life, against life, by life (Ricoeur, 1977). It is not simply the description of a clinical case or a mere account of a conversation between a patient and his therapist; rather is it a philosophical dialogue embedded into the inescapable dimension of recognition. Lorenzo Gilardi received a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and he discusses with Giovanni Stanghellini what it means to be schizophrenic in terms of recognition. The dialectic...

A Dialogue in Two Contexts: The Journey of Saudi Students in the United State of America and the Search for An I-Thou Relationship

ABSTRACT This study aims to understand the essence of the participants’ experiences as dialogues, and the researchers used phenomenology as a methodology to deepen the understanding of cultural differences, especially for adults, that affect class dialogue. Research has been done to explore different kinds of participation manifestations. The cultural factor was also examined by the researchers to understand the influence of howcultural backgrounds of international students influence their class participation. The participants expressed their meanings emotionally, intellectually, and socially. The findings of this study conclude that the participants experienced the lack of dialogue in the Saudi educational context, stating that participating in a dialogue as a sign of human agency and freedom, and the concept of respecting others’ right to express themselves means respecting their human dignity. Also, the participants’ experiences demonstrated that dialogue is deeply important not only for educational aims but as a human right.

A Critical Reflection of Martins Buber’s Philosophy of Education and its Relevance in the New-State

The aim of this essay is to examine the relevance of I and Thou through the lens of Martins Buber’s philosophy of education. The fundamental problem is that the educational system in the new-states like Nigeria is in need of re-orientation. Owing to this, policy formulators and educational practitioners need to see education in relational terms with regards to its relevance, implementation and its methodology together with the ends which education wishes to serve to as a facilitator of societal development. The method of critical analysis is useful to facilitate the re-orientation exercise. Findings show that Buber’s philosophy of education as embedded in the idea of I and Thou encourages interaction among individuals which are integral to the flourishing of positive relationship between the educational system and the community. Consequently, the paper attempts to unveil how this value position could impact positively on the Nigerian educational system in a bid to avert its decline. Buber’s I-Thou (You) relationship opens avenue for encounter in which people could engage with each other fully through dialogue. The education is based on authentic relations between teachers and learners where knowledge that is not imposed by the teacher is the basis of true pedagogy. In Buber’s idea of “I and Thou (You)”, personal relation should tend beyond individualism and collectivism for the future generations. The knowledge of self should be first and foremost: learners must be taught to explore their two autonomous instincts: the originator and the communion. Buber explains that the goal of the learner is to turn objective knowledge into active knowledge which helps in self actualization in the relational world.

Reflections on Martin Buber’s Approach to Upaniʂads and Vedānta

ABSTRACT Martin Buber engaged with the Upaniʂadic thought and found it essentially mystical and not conducive to man-God dialogue, where dialogue is understood as an I-Thou relation in which the I and the “other” do not become one. This paper presents a response to Buber’s critique of Upaniʂadic thought by arguing for the need to understand the differences between the Upaniʂads and Vedānta. In this attempt, the paper discusses Buber’s critique of Vedānta as monological in comparison to his dialogical thought. Further, it delineates the differences and similarities between Buber’s thought and Vedāntic thought concerning their understanding of man, man’s knowledge of the divine, and the relationships between man and divinity. Lastly, the paper situates Buber’s critique in comparison to the various Vedāntin philosophies.

Racism amongst white Afrikaner adolescents: The challenge of I-Thou (Buber) relations

This article was derived from my doctoral thesis, ‘Post-apartheid racism among Afrikaans speaking urban adolescents: A narrative-pastoral reflection’. The impetus for this study was the seemingly increasing occurrences of racism amongst post-apartheid Afrikaans-speaking urban adolescents in South Africa by taking a narrative practical theological perspective on the matter to help build meaningful cross-cultural dialogue. This study explored the level of dialogue of the participants using a postfoundational paradigm. Two questions guided the investigation: (1) How deeply embedded are objectifying of cross-cultural relationships? (2) How can we instigate honest dialogue aiding us in being more aware of our biases to embrace diversity and going forward as a unity in diversity? This study was conducted in 2016 amongst white Afrikaans-speaking urban adolescents living in Pretoria-East, South Africa. I had four group conversations (A, B, C and D) with my co-researchers (research participants), with six to eight adolescents per group. I made use of certain empirical research methods, such as narrative interviewing and group discussions. From an epistemological perspective, a postfoundational, social constructionist perspective, including an auto-ethnographical approach, was followed. The research indicated that Afrikaner adolescents could live life unquestioned from a position of power and objectivity that was culturally inherited. It was found that by objectifying relationships ( I-It ), diverse engagement becomes almost impossible. Consequently, this article advocates for a dialogical ( I-Thou ) approach towards building relationships in a context where people feel vulnerable and shameful, have fears, but also gain trust to contribute to meaningful dialogue with ‘others’.

Between Tele relation and I-Thou meeting: The therapeutic value of the psychodramatic concept of Tele from a Buberian approach

Tele is one of the most elusive and enigmatic concepts in psychodramatic theory. Although It represents one of the five main therapeutic factors that operate in psychodramatic practice, the lack of clarity and multiple meanings of the concept make it difficult to use clinically or even as a general therapeutic guideline. The present paper proposes that the concept of Tele may be elucidated by using Martin Buber’s philosophy of dialog. It demonstrates how Tele overlaps with Buber’s concept of I-Thou and how, for both concepts, it is the intersubjective encounter which is the mainstay of self-constitution. This paper maintains that the concept of Tele represents a major therapeutic idea, namely, that selfhood may only be revealed and expanded via an authentic meeting with another selfhood. The notion of Tele invites the therapist to encourage the creation of an I-Thou relation in the therapeutic space, based on the assumption that this is the main road through which the patient may connect with his or her deep subjectivity.

Changing CHAP (Change after Psychotherapy) scales – emergence of a reflexive evaluation methodology for small Gestalt therapy practices

"Abstract: This paper presents the process of developing a reflexive evaluation methodology for small private Gestalt psychotherapy practices, based on Rolf Sandell’s CHAP (Change after Psychotherapy) model. Therapy outcomes for four clients were assessed with use of the CHAP model extended to introspection and interview analysis to ensure a connection to Gestalt psychotherapy theoretical foundations of I-Thou relationship, dialogue and phenomenology. The learning process was supported by a third-party reviewer (supervisor). The sample included two clients who finished therapy years prior to assessment, one client who finished therapy months prior to assessment, and one client who had quit therapy unexpectedly years prior to assessment. Given the relatively satisfactory reliability of the tool irrespective of significant study limitations, it can be highly recommended to all Gestalt therapists. To assess outcomes of Gestalt therapy (GT) techniques and approach in general, a higher level of attention should be paid to sampling and raters’ training, regular application of the Gestalt Therapy Fidelity Scale1 and modification of the ‘Basic conflict’ aspect to fit the GT theoretical framework. Ratings and interview analysis of the client who quit therapy after eleven sessions indicate that application of GT techniques may have a strong, long-lasting impact, even in ‘brief interventions’, which calls for further research. Keywords: psychotherapy, outcome, evaluation, reflexive methodology, CHAP, rating."

Responding to the Meme-ing of the Religious Other

This article explores how Internet memes about religion present a distinct range of frames that offer distinct understandings of how religion is viewed in American culture. Through a critical overview of four research studies conducted on different meme strategies, genres, and forms of humor used to represent religious cultures in memetic discourse, we discover a tendency towards primarily negative messages about religious traditions and their believers online. The results are that meme messages can be seen as promoting religious stereotypes and serve as microaggressions objectifying the religious other. Based on my 2017 RCA Scholar of the Year lecture, this article suggests Martin Buber’s I-Thou relation can be used as a framework for reading Internet memes about religion in ways that lead to dialogue over distancing of religious traditions.

Crisis and Meaning: F. Kafka and the Law

The parable “Before the Law” is a pivotal text in the work of Franz Kafka. It tells of a man who looks for the law as the quintessence of his life. But his quest for meaning comes to a crisis because of a fundamental deception. Instead of interpreting the law as a personal mystery, he somehow objectifies it. His abstract view on life begets the obstacle-character that embodies all those who could bar him from finding the law. In this narrative, the failure of finding the law results in a murder in which human life is reduced to bestial death. In this sense, Kafka’s narrative is a tale of anti-creation. In a close reading we analyze the text with attention for the ternary structure, i.e. the intertwined complex of the I-Thou relation and the I-It relation (Martin Buber). The literary text is interpreted for its philosophical relevance. Franz Rosenzweig and Emmanuel Levinas but also Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida have an important role in this way of reading.

The Humanization of Economic Life: The Legacy of Martin Buber

In this article, I explore how our economic life can be reconciled with Martin Buber’s norm of dialogical life or communion. Known for his lifelong advocacy of dialogue between persons and between nations, Buber has tirelessly emphasized the necessity of restoring immediacy between fellow beings. Every human being is called to communion with his and her fellow beings. Such fellowship is the precondition for a truly human life. Given the technological and bureaucratic organization of our political and economic lives, this fundamental need is not being fulfilled. Instead of communion, it is the will to dominate and objectify that is fostered and normalized. The transcendence of this inhuman condition is what is entailed by the transition to the I-Thou relation. I here explain what it means to approach someone as a Thou, Buber’s reconceptualization of love, and the relationship between unified souls and a wholesome economy.

Anton Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony: An Interplay of Darkness and Light

Anton Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony: An Interplay of Darkness and Light David Greene Those who love Anton Bruckner’s last completed symphony love it greatly, and put it on a par with Beethoven’s and Mahler’s final masterpieces. Many of them say they hear things like “sublime darknesses” and “equally transcendent light” when they listen.”(Stanislaw Skrowaczewski’s presentation of Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony is accessible online and recommended for this reflection.)1 Yet, they do not hear light driving darkness away. Rather, darkness and light “come together,” mysteriously continuous from one to the other, distinct and still somehow identical. They say that darkness is both “vindicated” and “vanquished,” and light is also both “vindicated” and “vanquished.” Although I would not have come to these descriptions on my own, they ring true to what happens when I hear the piece. Words like “sublime,” “transcendent,” and “mysterious continuity” help me realize that something in the music points me to the Transcendent. Or maybe it is the other way around: relating to the Transcendent empowers me to connect to the music and to hear something I might otherwise not perceive. Two distinctions may help me explain what these “somethings” might be. The first is the well-known difference between mere sounds and musical sounds: to hear music is not to hear just sounds, but to hear sounds interrelated with one another—repeating, contrasting, building to a climax, summoning and answering one another, coming to an end. To hear music is to hear sounds-in-relation.2 The second is the difference, less well agreed upon, between passive and active listening. One is what Buber might call an I-It experience: I hear the interrelated sounds, but they remain something external to me. The other is what Buber calls an I-Thou relationship:3 I relate myself to the interrelating sounds, and as with my relationships with other persons, sunsets, and storms, relating to music defines me for the time of listening and beyond; hearing the music is woven into who I am. If the sounds-in-relation somehow point me to the Transcendent, then relating myself to them is also a relationship with the Transcendent.4 Those who do not love Bruckner’s Eighth dislike it greatly. They complain that the sounds do not relate themselves convincingly to one another, and that the piece is flawed by so many meaningless discontinuities that it is impossible [End Page 181] for them to relate to it. They do not get beyond I-It experience. The group includes some famous critics and conductors, including Herman Levi, who was Bruckner’s first choice to conduct the premiere. Click for larger view View full resolution Piano © 2017 Pal Sovány. I agree: the musical flow does indeed undergo discontinuities, but they do not bother me. That they are problematic for some listeners, however, makes me realize I should think carefully about them. Perhaps what upsets others may be a clue to the “somehow” by which the music, the Transcendent, and I are interrelated. Broken continuity may be the darkness that some of us hear as sublime and that is both vanquished and vindicated. I have looked at the ruptures to see exactly what is occurring at the disjointed places; I have wondered whether something is interrelated with these gaps that warrants calling them “sublime” as well as “dark.” I have asked, is there something like transcendent light woven into the dark ruptures, bringing about a continuity that is so original as to be elusive? Each movement gives me a different answer. For readers to hear these answers, it is obvious they need to hear the music. Fortunately, many good performances are available online at YouTube. com, including my preference, Skrowaczewski’s reading, previously mentioned.5 In the following I try to identify the places where many of us hear darkness and light by citing the number of minutes from the beginning of a movement to these moments. [End Page 182] The opening movement consists of a series of passages each of which suffers a non-sequitur that breaks the continuity, as though it were weaving a story but leaves threads dangling. An example is the...

'Students don't always tell teachers the truth very often, do they?' Reflections on the implications when teachers and students collaborate to investigate teaching practice

Informed by Martin Buber's notions of I-It and I-Thou relationships, this paper examines the problematic and contested issues of emancipation and empowerment in schooling. Specifically, it explores what happens when teachers and students collaborate when observing lessons and commenting on teaching practice in the imagined space of the self-improving school system. Within this space, it examines the challenges and complexities of establishing I-Thou teacher-student relationships, and the potential for creative dissonance in such situations. Finally, it explores the idea that the self-improving school could become a place where teachers and students create a space for mutual dialogue about collaborative research in the classroom – in other words, a place where classroom practice is democratically 'top-down' teacher-led and 'bottom-up' student-informed.