144 - Dialogical Philosophy from Kierkegaard to Buber

Dialogical Philosophy from Kierkegaard to Buber
By Shmuel Hugo Bergman
Albany, SUNY Press, 1991. 257 pp. $12.95.

Shmuel Hugo Bergman was born in Prague in 1883, emigrated to Palestine in 1920 and died in Jerusalem in 1975. As its title indicates, this book attempts to trace a trajectory in religious thought that runs from Soren Kierkegaard to Martin Buber. What unifies the thinkers who lie along this trajectory is that they all contributed to the development of a philosophy of dialogue that reached its consummate form in Buber's I and Thou.

The book is divided into four parts. Part one, which constitutes more than half of it, is devoted to Kierkegaard. An introductory chapter, which sketches the historical background of his thought, is followed by two chapters that treat particular works. One of them focuses on The Concept of Irony, and the other surveys the pseudonymous writings. Part two consists of a transitional chapter in which Feuerbach, Stirner, Hermann Cohen, Ferdinand Ebner and Eugen Rosenstock are briefly discussed. The two chapters of part three are about Franz Rosenzweig. The first of them contains an overview of his thought, and the second presents a rather detailed exposition of the main themes of The Star of Redemption.

145 - Dialogical Philosophy from Kierkegaard to Buber

Part four, which consists of a single chapter, is an outline of Buber's dialogical philosophy.

Arnold Gerstein, who translated the book from the Hebrew, mentions in his preface that it consists of a series of lectures that he heard delivered in 1962. The book has both the virtues and the defects of the lecture genre. On the one hand, Bergman's presentation of his material is informal, direct, and clear; it is easy to follow even if one does not have advanced training in philosophy. On the other hand, it displays a tendency to oversimplify complex and difficult philosophical or exegetical issues; it lacks the nuance and depth to be found in good recent scholarly literature. In my opinion, what is most interesting about the book, and what makes reading it worthwhile, is its endeavor to construct a genealogy for Buber and Rosenzweig that stretches back to Kierkegaard. Seeing Kierkegaard as an influence on subsequent Jewish thought should broaden the horizons of those who are accustomed to considering his work either in an exclusively Christian context or in terms of later nonreligious existentialism.

Philip L. Quinn
University of Notre Dame
South Bend, Ind.