This text explores the controversy between Martin Heidegger and Martin Buber on the issues of ontology and being. It discusses their arguments regarding the I-Thou relationship and its significance for human existence, and concludes that both were guilty of ignoring each other's contributions.
The book describes the refusal to see truths in areas of contemporary science and contemporary art. The first section shows that many contemporary scientists refuse to acknowledge the existence of mystery in the factual world and in the area they are researching. The text indicates that scientists often present and rely on gigantic incomprehensible numbers and misleading Language to seemingly prove their propositions. Among other areas in which scientists refuse to see truths, the book discusses the Big Bang and evolutionary theory. The second section describes the fact that today many persons who create art and write about it have decided that beauty has nothing to do with art. This decsision is rejected and held to be false; as philosophers from Plato to Sartre stated, the truth is that beauty is central to a work of art. A discussion of the essence of beauty which is based on the thinking, among others of Plato and SomerSet Maugham, strongly condemns this refusal to see beauty by contemporary artists and writers on art.
This book has two aims. The first aim is a modest attempt to help to overcome the neglect to which German expressionist paintings have been condemned by historians and art critics. The second aim is more difficult from an educational perspective. The book points out that a moving beauty and worthy truths call out from many German expressionist paintings. At times, this beauty and these truths may be comprehended straightforwardly. To complement the direct encounter with these paintings, the book suggests learning from concepts, ideas, and insights presented by existentialist philosophers. The book shows that these concepts, ideas, and insights can assist in harkening to the call of beauty and truth that calls out from the paintings of the six German expressionist painters which are discussed here: Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Mueller, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Erich Heckel. Thus, they can assist the educator in showing the grandeur of the works of the six painters. The book points to the educational value of the personal and existential encounter with the beauty and truths that call out from the paintings of these artists.
Israel Today offers a concise and enlightened description of the challenges Israel has encountered since its founding in 1948. In elegant prose, Haim Gordon depicts the dynamic historical developments that have led to the return of the Jewish people to the land of their forefathers and to the establishment of contemporary Israel. More specifically, Gordon analyzes the country's precarious relations to its neighbors and the dangers to national security it faces from the outside. Internal problems arise from the need to blend into one nation the many thousands of Jews who have arrived from more than 120 lands to join in the building of the Jewish State. These historical details revolve around an eloquent discussion of daily life in Israel today, featuring aspects such as politics, economics, education, and Jewish spirituality.
This book suggests that the link between politics and education, as described and lived in ancient Greece, can bring forth a search for excellence. The striving for excellence requires striving to attain things that are worthy in themselves, such as wisdom, beauty, justice, love, friendship, and knowledge. When things worthy in themselves vanish from political and educational endeavors, a spiritual wasteland spreads. The book also shows some of the difficulties of a quest for things worthy in themselves in our world, while looking closely at the case of Israel, which is a vibrant democracy. Yet, Israel today has many characteristics of a spiritual wasteland. Struggling against the spread of a wasteland is one of the worthy challenges an educator can undertake.
Erich Maria Remarque was one of a few twentieth-century novelists that described the heroism of ordinary people and the beautiful friendships that can arise among them. In discussing these moments of heroism and true friendship, this book illustrates the courage and generosity of these ordinary heroes in their willingness to see and to fight evil. As this book shows, even in harsh historical circumstances, people can establish friendships that are founded on basic trust, genuine dialogue, and true love.
Truth and myth are predominant themes in Martin Heidegger's thinking. Heidegger showed that ancient Greek understanding of truth as aletheia («unconcealment») can teach us about learning from the wisdom that is found in myths and can also enhance human existence. This book describes some of Heidegger's major insights concerning truth as aletheia and their implications. It also shows how Heidegger's thinking on truth discloses the shallowness and the disrespect for truth in the writings of four well-known postmodernist writers: Lyotard, MacIntyre, Rorty, and Derrida.