Search Results for: Buber

Notes on emic versus etic

Design, Hermeneutics, Holarchy, Phenomenology, Philosophy, Pragmatism

In “‘From the Native’s Point of View’: On the Nature of Anthropological Understanding” Clifford Geertz outlines a fundamental concept of anthropology: The formulations have been various: “inside” versus “outside,” or “first person” versus “third person” descriptions; “phenomenological” versus “objectivist,” or “cognitive” versus “behavioral” theories; or, perhaps most commonly, “emic” versus “etic” analyses, this last deriving … Continue reading Notes on emic versus etic →

Primacy of dialogue

Hermeneutics, Metaphysics, Pragmatism

Bernstein: … the notion of dialogue has been present from the very beginning of Gadamer’s discussion of play as the “clue to ontological explanation.”   When one enters into a dialogue with another person and then is carried further by the dialogue, it is no longer the will of the individual person, holding itself back … Continue reading Primacy of dialogue →

People inside-outside

Philosophy

I think I took more from Gadamer than I realized. I think I may have introjected that understanding into my reading of Buber, too, though I am not sure how much. * Some distinctions: 1) an empathetic, reconstructive understanding of the subjectivity (that is the way of seeing) of fellow-subjects 2) a sympathetic, participatory understanding … Continue reading People inside-outside →

The I, the We, the Other, and transcendence

Biography, Hermeneutics, Holarchy, Philosophy, Pragmatism

I picked through several books today without getting traction in any one of them. I started with Richard J. Bernstein’s The New Constellation: Ethical-Political Horizons of Modernity/Postmodernity looking for references to Martin Buber and Emanuel Levinas (who is generally considered Buber’s heir). I was looking for a summary of their differences, mostly to see if … Continue reading The I, the We, the Other, and transcendence →

Reflection on “Distance and Relation”

Philosophy

I just finished rereading Buber’s “Distance and Relation”, and it made me want to list the ways other people can exist to one another. * Another person can be nonexistent, latent in the environment: unnoticed, in blind irrelevance. Another person can exist as an object that emerges from the environment: noticed, but relevant functionally, not … Continue reading Reflection on “Distance and Relation” →

Day and night

Philosophy

Some ideas I find myself reconsidering regularly, from oldest to newest: A fragment from one of Rilke’s letters, on the need for a lover to love the distance between himself and the beloved Zeno’s paradoxes  C. S. Lewis’s “Meditation in a Toolshed” Dostoevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor” With the first three, reconsideration usually means renewed hostility … Continue reading Day and night →

Marys and Marthas

Biography, Hermeneutics, Holarchy, Judaism

As far as I can tell the only time people finally let down their guard and brave the visceral anxiety of genuine intersubjectivity is when they’re thrown into the pressure of collaborative project work. It is a peculiarly intimate situation, and it is the sole intrinsic value I experience in work. I’m shameless in my … Continue reading Marys and Marthas →

Existential entities

Hermeneutics, Philosophy, Pragmatism

The existential I – Heidegger’s Dasein – is the cheapest and most exciting philosophical discovery. The existential You – Buber’s Thou – is more elusive. Catching sight of the concept of the existential You points the way to the development of the intellectual and ethical practice of existing in the I-Thou relationship. The rules in … Continue reading Existential entities →