Levinas and Buber: Dialogue and Difference

Emmanuel Levinas and Martin Buber—considered by many the most important Jewish philosophers since the twelfth century sage Maimonides—knew each other as associates and friends. Yet although their dialogue was certainly instructive at times, and demonstrated the esteem in which Levinas held Buber, in particular, their relationship just as often exhibited a failure to communicate. This volume of essays is intended to resume the important dialogue between Levinas and Buber. Thirteen essays by a wide range of scholars do not attempt to assimilate the two philosophers’ respective views of each other, rather, these discussions provide an occasion to examine their genuine differences—differences that both Levinas and Buber agreed were required for genuine dialogue to begin.