Byung Chul Han 5l4o4i

Byung-Chul Han This is a Korean name; the family name is Han.

2 Works

Byung-Chul Han, also spelled Pyŏng-ch'ŏl Han, (born 1959 in Seoul) is a South Korean author, cultural theorist, and professor at the Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK) in Berlin.

In Fatigue Society (original German title: Die Müdigkeitsgesellschaft), Han characterizes today’s society as a pathological landscape of neuronal disorders such as depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, borderline and burnout. He claims that they are not “infections” but “infarcts”, which are not caused by the negativity of people’s immunology, but by an excess of positivity.[4]

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Agonie des Eros (Agony of the Eros) carries ByungChul Han’s thoughts, which he developed in his earlier books Fatigue Society (German: Die Müdigkeitsgesellschaft) and Transparency Society (German: Transparenzgesellschaft), forward and directs attention to one another on the relationship of humans, on desire and love. Based on an illuminating analysis of the characters in Lars von Trier’s movie Melancholia, in which Han sees depression and overcoming depicted, he develops – in his usual discursive manner – the image of a society that is increasingly dominated by narcissism and self-reference. Han’s diagnosis extends even to the point that he calls the loss of desire, the disappearance of the ability to devote to “the other”, the stranger, the non-self. We revolve around ourselves, cramp us in ourselves, unable to build relationships. Even love and sexuality are permeated by this social change: sex and pornography, exhibition and presentation are displacing love, eroticism and desire from the public eye. The abundance of positivity and self-reference leads to a loss of confrontation. Thinking, Han states, is based on the “untreaded”, on the desire for something that one does not yet understand. It is connected to a high degree with Eros, so the “Agony of the Eros” is also an “Agony of Thought”. Not everything must be understood and “liked”, not everything must be made available.

Life and work

Byung-Chul Han studied metallurgy in Korea before he moved to in the 1980s to study Philosophy, German Literature and Catholic theology in Freiburg im Breisgau and Munich. He received his doctoral degree at Freiburg with a dissertation on Martin Heidegger in 1994. In 2000, he ed the Department of Philosophy at the University of Basel, where he completed his Habilitation. In 2010 he became a faculty member at the HfG Karlsruhe, where his areas of interest were philosophy of the 18th, 19th and 20th century, ethics, social philosophy, phenomenology, cultural theory, aesthetics, religion, media theory, and intercultural philosophy. Since 2012 he teaches philosophy and cultural studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK), where he directs the newly established Studium Generale general-studies program.[1]

Han is the author of sixteen books, of which the most recent are treatises on what he a “society of tiredness” (Müdigkeitsgesellschaft), a “society of transparency” (Transparenzgesellschaft), and on his neologist concept of shanzai, which seeks to identify modes of deconstruction in contemporary practices of Chinese In Topologie der Gewalt (Topology of Violence), ByungChul Han continues his alarming analysis of a society on capitalism. the edge of collapse that he started with ›MüdigkeitsgeHan’s current work focuses on transparency as a cultural sellschaft‹ (Fatigue Society). Focusing on the relation benorm created by neoliberal market forces, which he un- tween violence and individuality, he shows, that albeit the derstands as the insatiable drive toward voluntary disclo- widespread thesis about its disappearance, violence has sure bordering on the pornographic. According to Han, only changed its form of appearance and operates more the dictates of transparency enforce a totalitarian system subtly. The martial form of violence gives way to a more of openness at the expense of other social values such as anonymous, desubjectified, systemic one, that does not shame, secrecy, and trust.[2] reveal itself, as it is merging with its antagonist – freeUntil recently, he refused to give radio and television in- dom. Through Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, Carl terviews and rarely divulges any biographical or personal Schmitt, Richard Sennett, René Girard, Giorgio Agamben, Deleuze/Guattari, Michel Foucault, Michel Serres, details, including his date of birth, in public.[3] 1

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5 SELECTED WORKS

Pierre Bourdieu and Martin Heidegger, Han approaches his own concept of violence, that finds to work in free individuality. Driven by the only demand to persevere and not to fail, as well as by the ambition of efficiency, we become committers and sacrificers at the same time and get into a swirl of demarcation, selfexploitation and collapse. Han’s lucid study of violence offers plenty unorthodox thoughts and is not afraid of critical scrutinizing common in modern society concepts of freedom, individuality and self-fulfillment, bringing to light their shady sides.

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• Korean edition: ISBN 9788932023960.

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Moonji, 2010,

• Müdigkeitsgesellschaft Matthes & Seitz, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-88221-616-5. • Brazilian edition: in progress, Vozes. • Danish edition: Træthedssamfundet. Møller, 2012, ISBN 9788799404377. • Dutch edition: De vermoeide samenleving. van gennep, 2012, ISBN 9789461640710.

Themes

Han has written on topics such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, borderline, burnout, depression, exhaustion, internet, love, pop culture, power, rationality, religion, social media, subjectivity, tiredness, transparency and violence.

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• Duft der Zeit: Ein philosophischer Essay zur Kunst des Verweilens. Transkript 2009.

• English edition: in progress, Stanford UP. • French edition: La Société de la fatigue, édition circé, 2014, ISBN 978-2842423568.[7] • Greek edition: in progress, Editions Opera. • Italian edition: La società della stanchezza. nottetempo, 2012, ISBN 978-88-7452-345-0. • Korean edition: 9788932023960.

Reception

Müdigkeitsgesellschaft will soon be available in 11 languages.[5] Several Korean newspapers voted it to be the most important book in 2012.[6]

. Moonji, 2011, ISBN

• Macedonian edition: in progress, Tabahon. • Portuguese edition: D'Água Editores.

in progress, Relógio

• Romanian edition: in progress, Humanitas.

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• Spanish edition: La sociedad del cansancio. Barcelona, Herder Editorial, 2012, ISBN 97884-254-2868-5.

Selected Works • Heideggers Herz. Zum Begriff der Stimmung bei Martin Heidegger. Wilhelm Fink, Paderborn 1999.

• Swedish edition: Trötthetssamhället. Ersatz, 2013, ISBN 978-91-87219-62-7.

• Todesarten. Philosophische Untersuchungen zum Tod. Wilhelm Fink, Paderborn 1999.

• Taiwanese edition: in progress, Locus.

• Martin Heidegger. UTB, Stuttgart 1999. • Tod und Alterität. Wilhelm Fink, Paderborn 2002. • Philosophie des Zen-Buddhismus. Reclam, Stuttgart 2002. • Was ist Macht. Reclam, Stuttgart 2005. • Korean edition: ISBN 9788976823335.

. Moonji, 2009,

• Hyperkulturalität: Kultur und Globalisierung. Merve, Berlin 2005.

• Turkish edition: in progress, Pinar Yayinlari. • Shanzhai - Dekonstruktion auf Chinesisch. Merve, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-88396-294-8. • Topologie der Gewalt. Matthes & Seitz, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-88221-495-6. • Korean edition: in progress, Moonji. • Turkish edition: in progress, Metis. • Transparenzgesellschaft. Matthes & Seitz, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-88221-595-3. • Dutch edition: De transparente samenleving. van gennep, 2012, ISBN 9789461641892.

• Hegel und die Macht. Ein Versuch über die Freundlichkeit. Wilhelm Fink, Paderborn 2005.

• English edition: in progress, Stanford UP.

• Gute Unterhaltung. Eine Dekonstruktion der abendländischen ionsgeschichte. Verlag Vorwerk 8, Berlin 2007.

• Italien edition: in progress, nottetempo.

• Abwesen: Zur Kultur und Philosophie des Fernen Ostens. Merve, Berlin 2007.

• Portuguese edition: D'Água Editores.

• Greek edition: in progress, Editions Opera. • Korean edition: "" ISBN 9788932026114.

"", Moonji, 2014,

in progress, Relógio

3 • Romanian edition: in progress, Humanitas. • Russian edition: in progress, Logos. • Spanish edition: La sociedad de la transparencia. Barcelona, Herder Editorial, 2013, ISBN 9788425432521. • Agonie des Eros. Matthes & Seitz, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-88221-973-9. • Dutch edition: in progress, van gennep. • French edition: in progress, Autrement. • Italian edition: Eros in agonia. nottetempo, 2013, ISBN 9788874524235. • Korean edition: in progress, Moonji. • Portuguese edition: D'Água Editores.

in progress, Relógio

• Romanian edition: Agonia erosului, Humanitas, ISBN 978-973-50-4326-1, EPUB/PDF ISBN 978-973-50-4466-4. • Spanish edition: La agonía del Eros. Barcelona, Herder Editorial, 2014. ISBN 978-84-254-3254-5. • Bitte Augen schließen. Auf der Suche nach einer anderen Zeit. Matthes & Seitz Berlin 2013 ebook, ISBN 978-3-88221-064-4. • Digitale Rationalität und das Ende des kommunikativen Handelns. Matthes & Seitz Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-88221-066-8. • Italian edition: Razionalità Digitale. La fine dell'agire comunicativo. GoWare edizioni, 2014, ISBN 978-88-6797-145-9 • Im Schwarm. Ansichten des Digitalen. Matthes & Seitz Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-88221-037-8. • Spanish edition: En el enjambre. Barcelona, Herder Editorial, 2014, ISBN 978-84-2543368-9. • French edition: in progress, Actes Sud. • Italian edition: in progress, nottetempo. • Swedish edition: I svärmen. Tankar om det digitala . Stockholm, Ersatz, 2014. ISBN 97891-87219-76-4. • Psychopolitik: Neoliberalismus und die neuen Machttechniken (Essay Collection). S. Fischer Verlag Frankfurt 2014 ISBN 978-3100022035. • Spanish edition: Psicopolítica. Barcelona, Herder Editorial, 2014, ISBN 978-84-2543368-9.

6 References [1] “Studium Generale”. [2] “Klarheit schaffen”. der Freitag. 2012-06-07. Retrieved 2012-06-09. [3] “Play more and work less: A visit with Byung-Chul Han in Karlsruhe”. Sign and Sight. 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2012-06-09. [4] "‘ 2012-11-29.

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[5] “Translations”. [6] “Korea’s Most Important Books 2012”. [7] (French)Byung-Chul Han - La Société de la fatigue, Traduction de l'allemand par Julie Stroz on editions-circe.fr

7 External links • Literature by and about Byung-Chul Han in the German National Library catalogue • Byung-Chul Han’s web page at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung, Karlsruhe • http://www.udk-berlin.de/sites/content/themen/ universitaet/studium_generale/ • Byung-Chul Han, Essay on the ethics of drones: http://www.matthes-seitz-berlin.de/artikel/ byung-chul-han-die-ethik-des-drohnenkriegs.html • Interview with Byung-Chul Han in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung: http://sz-magazin.sueddeutsche. de/texte/anzeigen/39059

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