Buber's Anti-Platonism

In a 1961 article in Commentary, Gershom Scholem claimed that Martin Buber's interpretation of Hasidism was tendentious because it was influenced by his "anti-Platonism."Scholem denied Buber's assertion that Hasidism taught that one must have joy in the here and now, and argued on the contrary that it taught that one must transcend the here and now, which is no more than a "negligible garment."He further affirmed in his own name that anything done "with full concentration" involves the annihilation of the here and now and communion with the Transcendence.Scholem's own Platonic or Idealistic interpretation of Hasidism is based on at least one mistranslation of a classic Hasidic text.Although Scholem's criticism of Buber's interpretation of Hasidism is unconvincing, he was right about the importance of anti-Platonism in Buber's philosophy.Buber's anti-Platonism was set down clearly in his 1938 inaugural lecture on Mt.Scopus.In this lecture, he compared the views of Plato and Isaiah on the meaning of "spirit," and vigorously defended that of Isaiah.