Circling Science

I and Thou

First published
1923
Ich und Du
Difficulty
Moderate
Edition
Trans. Walter Kaufmann. Scribner, 1970.
Where to start
Part One. It is short and poetic; read it slowly.

Background

Earlier work that helps think about the practice, without being about it.

The best first book on what it means to meet someone: relating to a person as a “Thou” rather than as an object of knowledge or use.

Buber distinguishes two basic attitudes. In I–It I relate to someone as an object: something to know, use or explain. In I–Thou I meet them as a whole presence, without the distance of description. That meeting can’t be produced on demand; it happens between people.

For Circling, the distinction names the difference between attending to someone and being with them: between building a theory of the person in front of you and staying available to them.

Questions to bring into a circle

  • Am I available to this person, or occupied with my understanding of them?

Directions that build on it

  1. What being met is like

    Builds on 9 works · 5 funding routes

    What do people actually experience in the moments they describe as being seen or met?

Read alongside

  1. 1982
    Ethics and Infinity: Conversations with Philippe Nemo

    Levinas · Moderate

    For respect for another person’s otherness: the other exceeds our ability to comprehend them, and calls us into responsibility.

Further reading

Cite

Buber, M. (1923). I and Thou. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. Scribner, 1970.