Page 17 - Eclipse of God

xvi Introduction to the 2016 Edition

there is a relation between religion and philosophy. In Buber’s
words: “A sceptical verdict about the ability of philosophy to
lead to and contain truth is in no way here implied. The possibil-
ity of cogitative truth does not, indeed, mean a cogitative pos-
session of being, but a cogitative real relation to being. Systems
of thought are manifestations of genuine thought- relations to
being made possible through abstraction. They are not mere
‘aspects,’ but rather valid documents of these cogitative voy-
ages of discovery” (36). The key phrase here is “possession of
being.” When philosophy or science claim to possess being,
that is, to provide definitive answers to the question of what it
means to be human, then philosophy is problematic. This does
not mean, however, that philosophy, or science, is false. Philos-
ophy and science are true relations to being, just as the “I- It”
relation is a genuine way of being in the world. The problem
arises only when the “I- It” relation eclipses the “I- Thou” rela-
tionship. So, too, the only problem with philosophy or science
arises when they eclipse religion, as, for instance, the claims of
the new atheists do.
In his historical context, it is not the scientism of the new
atheists that Buber opposes but rather what he regards as
modern thinkers’ obsession with “self- discovery.” In particu-
lar, Buber targets Jean- Paul Sartre, Carl Jung, and Heideg-
ger. Buber agrees with all three that the modern age is one in
which “God is silent.” Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous statement
that “God is dead” captures God’s silence for these modern
thinkers, but they each have different interpretations of this
famous phrase. Sartre, Buber argues, incorrectly understands
Nietzsche literally. From this Sartre concludes that there is no
God and that the human being must be brave enough to find
his own creative freedom. While Jung criticizes Freud for not
understanding religious experience, Buber argues that his con-