Martin Buber (, , ; February 8, 1878 – June 13, 1965) was an Austrian-born Israeli
Jewish philosopher best known for his
philosophy of dialogue, a form of
existentialism centered on the distinction between the
I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship. Born in
Vienna, Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in
philosophy. In 1902, he became the editor of the weekly
Die Welt, the central organ of the
Zionist movement, although he later withdrew from organizational work in Zionism. In 1923, Buber wrote his famous essay on existence,
Ich und Du (later translated into English as
I and Thou), and in 1925, he began translating the
Hebrew Bible into the
German language.