5 Key Concepts In The Work Of Byung-Chul Han

Byung-Chul Han’s work is one of the most interesting today. However, although it is already very famous and celebrated, it has not yet become popular enough. That is why it is worth making an approach to its postulates, especially if we are interested in reflecting on the current lifestyle and the direction we are taking.

This South Korean philosopher and writer is also an expert in cultural studies and has become one of the most authoritative voices in contemporary thought. Byung-Chul Han’s work has focused on current phenomena such as technology, the culture of hard work or the effects of the globalization of capitalism.

Some of the most famous titles in Byung-Chul Han’s work are  The Society of Fatigue , The Agony of Eros , Topology of Violence and Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Forms of Power , among others. In them, there are some concepts that stand out and that are configured as the axes of his way of seeing the world. Let’s go deeper.

1. Self-exploitation

Much of Byung-Chul Han’s work is devoted to reflecting on how we work today. In an interview with the newspaper El País, he summed up his thoughts in a truly lapidary phrase. He says: ” Now you exploit yourself and believe you are fulfilling .”

For Byung-Chul Han, the modern man unthinkingly follows a social mandate: to do all he CAN. Until a while ago , people did what they SHOULD do. Now the human being believes that he must achieve “success”, even at the expense of himself, and is severely distressed if he does not succeed. Power does not have to lash out. Each person submits to this regime of work and consumption, completely voluntarily.

2. Communication

In Byung-Chul Han’s work there are also constant allusions to communication phenomena, as we know them today. For him, relationships have been replaced by connections. What is established today is a link between sources of information scattered around the world.

Byung-Chul Han points out that without the physical presence of the other, there is no longer communication, but information exchange. All the senses, except sight, are falling into disuse. For this reason, in part, communication has been noticeably weakened. In turn, people seek only their “equals”, those capable of liking  their own. Where is the difference then?

3. Garden, one of the key concepts in Byung-Chul Han’s work

Certainly, the garden concept is not one of the most elaborated in philosophy. In Byung-Chul Han’s work it has to do with resistance to the impositions of the digital world. This sphere has a very diffuse and despicable materiality. As the philosopher says: ” digital does not weigh, does not smell, does not offer resistance, you swipe a finger and that’s it “.

In this way, the garden concept is a call to return to concrete sensations. Smell, feel, touch… The South Korean thinker speaks of the “secret garden”, that reserved space in which one again gets in touch with material reality, not mediated by the digital. It is, in his opinion, a way of recovering what he calls “original beauty”.

4. The other

The other is one of the concepts that is in crisis in today’s society. It seems that the only slogan is to match us. The “trends” and “the viral” are manifestations of this desire to belong to a group that marches in unison.

Byung-Chul Han says that the more equal we are, the more production increases. In his opinion, the difference is contrary to the objectives of neoliberalism. If there were some who used smartphones and others who did not, the market would suffer. Currently there is a radical conformity, an enormous passivity that reduces the human being to the condition of client or producer.

5. The weather

Time is another of those critical elements in today’s world. The philosopher says that a revolution in the use of time is necessary. What prevails now is acceleration and the passing thing. Do everything fast and let it go as soon as it arrived. It is an attack against permanence.

For this thinker it is essential to recover personal time, that is, that in which we dedicate ourselves to ourselves. Own time, outside the production system. Recover the moments of leisure and the moments for the party. Reserve time for the unproductive, not for the “pause” that makes work more efficient.

Without a doubt, Byung-Chul Han’s work is one of the richest and most interesting in the world today. And it is not just a work. He himself lives according to the postulates he preaches. What he seeks, above all, is to self-affirm his being and his freedom.