Dialogue and Dialectic: Recreating a Conversation between Martin Buber and G. W. F. Hegel

This article examines the relationship between two fundamental concepts in the history of philosophy—dialogue and dialectic—through an analysis of their roles in the thought ofBuber and Hegel. From Buber’s perspective, Hegel’s dialectical system, despite its logical coherence and systematic rigor, fails to address the crisis of meaning and existential anxieties of modern human beings. By contrast, the philosophy of dialogue, centered on the Other and the notion of the between, offers an alternative that shifts attention from Hegel’s conception of the universal human being to the concrete reality of human relations. The article reconstructs Buber’s critique of Hegel in five interconnected dimensions and situates it within the broader post-Hegelian critical tradition, alongside the critiques advanced by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Levinas. Drawing on the interpretations of Pippin and other contemporary Hegel scholars, it reconstructs potential Hegelian responses to Buber’s objections and opens a space for dialogue between the two approaches. The central question is whether Buber’s claim that Hegel’s dialectical system cannot adequately respond to the existential condition of modern humanity is defensible. the article asks whether contemporary readings of Hegel make possible an immanent response to these criticisms. It argues that, although Buber’s critique is significant from phenomenological and existential perspectives, it relies on a one-sided interpretation of Hegel. Ultimately, the article maintains that Buberian dialogue and Hegelian dialectic operate at distinct levels of analysis: the former concerns the lived experience of encountering the Other, while the latter elucidates the historical and social conditions that make such encounters possible.