Martin Buber and phenomenological hermeneutics

Abstract

This article examines the phenomenological hermeneutics of Martin Buber, starting from the novelty brought by the thought of Edmund Husserl in understanding knowledge. In the effort to substantiate knowledge, Husserl radicalized the return to the things themselves and in this movement found the lived world. This world, taken as the ultimate foundation of knowledge, stems from singular experiences lived in the intentionality of consciences. Martin Buber develops this notion, differentiating intentionality into two principle words, I – Thou and I – It, with which he summarizes the personal relationship with others and with things, besides the variations of these words, such as treating the other as a thing. With this distinction he conceives a distinct language in the principle words. This work is completed with the studies of Buber on the historical, biblical and Hasidic texts, where he approaches fundamental names of hermeneutics such as Paul Wartenberg, Wilhelm Dilthey and Hans George Gadamer, the latter focused on objectivity in interpretation.