Buber distinguishes instrument-use perception (I-It) from true encounter (I-Thou)
Evidence
In his 1923 book I and Thou, the philosopher Martin Buber draws a distinction between what he calls I-It and I-Thou ways of seeing. In I-It, the other (a thing or a person) is an “it” that exists only as an instrument or means to an end, something to be appropriated by the “I.” A person who only knows I-It will never encounter anything outside himself because he does not truly “encounter.” Buber writes that such a person “only knows the feverish world out there and his feverish desire to use it…When he says You, he means: You, my ability to use!” — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 375
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- DEFINE: Precise definition of the I-It/I-Thou dichotomy Odell will build her attention argument on.
- XREF: Links to the instrumental, appropriative gaze critique common across Odell’s book and to commodity fetishism generally.