BUBER: THE FIRST PHENOMENOLOGY

click on link:  http://www.mediafire.com/listen/hp1ih2j3gl3g2n9/buberext.mp3

IN 1923, the concept of “phenomenology” did not exist. Instead, such positions were called “existentialism”. Such was the label attached to Buber. And phenomenology is equal to “existentialism as relation”.
However, as is the case with “prophetic-voice”; Buber anticipated phenomenology by 40 years. His “I and Thou” presented a phenomenology of “Relation”, long before the science would take birth in the 1960’s.

Roughly we can form a preliminary “Judaic-outline”:
1. RELATION-OF-EXILE: while, at the same time, being conditioned by “grace” and “covenant”. Where the self seeks out “meaning” in this barrenness.
2. RELATION-OF-MEANING: and direction, symbolized in pillar-of-fire. Where self interprets the acquisition of the “units-of-meaning” as gifts of grace in perceiving “meaning”. Self takes on receptive attitude of “stance-of-prayer” for this perceiving.
3. RELATION-OF-WORD: as symbolized as ark-of-covenant. The threshold of dialogue where self encounters three sub-system relations concerning the “speech-act”: a. “BELOW-LANGUAGE” of sensate-percepts. B. “WITHIN-LANGUAGE” of “cogito” relating to other selves. C. “BEYOND-LANGUAGE” of “spiritual-being” and acquiring the traces of the “eternal-you” in the shared experiences of other selves.
4. RELATION-AS-POURED-OUT: symbolized in the “mercy-seat”; where self articulates the form of the “eternal-you” from the compiled “traces” and conceptualizes them into “altar” & “sacrifice”; a sacrifice of risking “whole-being” in the positing.
5. RELATION-AS-ELECTION: symbolized a tabernacle in the desert. The hinge pivot-point of true subjectivity that never quite reaches a fixed home with itself; always no more than a tent for a tabernacle. Never a determinate “it” to define the interrogation for “praxis”. “Praxis” demands more than this.
6. RELATION-OF-PRAXIS: as a “relation-of-incarnation”; incarnating the “you” of SOCIAL-HUMANITY. It INCLUDES “3” sub-system-relations as follows:
a. “Relation-of-aesthetics” in the world of things.
b. “Relation-of-love “in world of other selves.
c. “Relation-of-meditation” in world of mystery and spirit.
AND THE “LOGOS”: for Buber, the “logos” is metaphorically represented as the “Manna-of-nourishment”.
This logos passes through a triad of: 1. the “i-it” of psyche. 2. The “blossoming-i-you” of “cogito”; and 3. The “i-you” as “process-of-event”.
This masterpiece of around 100 pages should be studied by any serious thinker who wants to better understand the current post-modern position. Highly recommended; 5 stars