There are only two ways to relate to anything: as a 'Thou' or as an 'It'

Martin Buber argued in 1923 that we meet the world in one of two modes: I-It, where another person or thing becomes an object to be used, categorized or explained, and I-Thou, a direct, mutual encounter where the other is met as a whole being, not a means to an end. He thought a fully lived life depends on how often we can manage the second.

— Martin Buber, I and Thou — 1923 (English translation 1937)
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