Martin Buber

Austrian/Jewish Philosopher

1878-1965

Jewish theologian and philosopher, born in Vienna. He studied philosophy at Vienna, Berlin, and Zürich, then became attracted to Hasidism, founding and editing a monthly journal Der Jude (1916--24). He taught comparative religion at Frankfurt (1923--33), and directed a Jewish adult education programme until 1938, when he fled to Palestine to escape the Nazis. He became professor of social philosophy at Jerusalem, where he wrote on social and ethical problems. He is best known for his religious philosophy, expounded most famously in Ich und Du (1923, I and Thou), contrasting personal relationships of mutuality and reciprocity with utilitarian or objective relationships.

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