When I confront a human being as my You and speak the basic word I-You to him, then he is no thing among things nor does he consist of things. He is no longer He or She, limited by other He's and She's, a dot in the world grid of space and time, nor a condition that can be experienced and described, a loose bundle of named qualities. Neighborless and seamless, he is You and fills the firmament. Not as if there were nothing but he; but everything else lives in his light. Even as a melody is not composed of tones, nor a verse of words, nor a statue of lines - one must pull and tear to turn a unity into a multiplicity - so it is with the human being to whom I say You. I can abstract from him the color of his hair or the color of his speech or the color of his graciousness; I have to do this again and again; but immediately he is no longer You.
[Walter Kaufmann translation]
Suggested Discussion Questions:
1. What does it mean to encounter another human being as You? Are all of these encounters equal?
2. What makes it difficult to do this - particularly with people who are different than us in race, class, nationality, religion, etc.?
Time Period: Modern (Spinoza through post-WWII)