When I confront a human being as my You and speak the basic word I-You to him, then he is no thing among things nor does he consist of things. He is no longer He or She, limited by other He's and She's, a dot in the world grid of space and time, nor a condition that can be experienced and described, a loose bundle of named qualities. Neighborless and seamless, he is You and fills the firmament. Not as if there were nothing but he; but everything else lives in his light. Even as a melody is not composed of tones, nor a verse of words, nor a statue of lines - one must pull and tear to turn a unity into a multiplicity - so it is with the human being to whom I say You. I can abstract from him the color of his hair or the color of his speech or the color of his graciousness; I have to do this again and again; but immediately he is no longer You.
[Walter Kaufmann translation]
Suggested Discussion Questions:
1. What does it mean to encounter another human being as You? Are all of these encounters equal?
2. What makes it difficult to do this - particularly with people who are different than us in race, class, nationality, religion, etc.?
1. What does it mean to encounter another human being as You? Are all of these encounters equal?
2. What makes it difficult to do this - particularly with people who are different than us in race, class, nationality, religion, etc.?
Time Period: Modern (Spinoza through post-WWII)