I and You

Martin Buber (1878–1965) – a German and Israeli existentialist philosopher, one of the pioneers of dialogical philosophy, multiple nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize and the same-name prize in literature, laureate of the Erasmus Rotterdam Prize. The central idea of Buber's philosophy, outlined in his main work "I and You", is the fundamental principle of interaction of "I" with another person, existence as "being-with" other people, and ultimately – with God. In his work, the author juxtaposes the relationships "I – You" and "I – It", where the first is a living interpersonal communication, a loving dialogue in which personalities dissolve into one another, and the second is a cold, detached relationship, referring to Aristotelian logic. Two types of relationships – two different ways of perceiving the world; a person cannot constantly remain in the state of "I – You" relationship, Buber says, but "he who does not know this state is not a human being."