The Philosophy of Byung-Chul Han (2020)

Summary

In the 1980s, there were a series of writers who challenged the way people thought of the then-growing popularity of colour television and news media. I have written before about Neil Postman, and his fear of our world becoming a ‘trivial society’ and Marshall McLuhan, who warned us that ‘the medium is the message’. (Technology is not just a tool, embedded within it is a message.) I’ve been searching for a modern author who can do in our times what these authors did then. Challenge assumptions. Lift up the veil of technology and help us understand what lies underneath. Enter Byung-Chul Han. Han is South Korean-born, German philosopher and is one of the most daring philosophers I’ve read in recent years. He offers quick, incisive books rather than long, jargon-heavy reads. (His books are usually less than a hundred pages.) In this way, he’s great if you are new to philosophy. Or like me, enjoy reading something in one sitting. What’s more, Byung-Chul Han is telling the stories that need to be told today. Stories about modern technology, about where we are as a society and where we are heading if we don’t change course. This winter, I dug into five of Byung-Chul Han’s most recent books to discover the definitive philosophy of Byung-Chul Han. In digging into his writing, I hoped to get some of that feeling of revelation I got from reading Postman and McLuhan. In many ways, I was not disappointed. If there is an overall thesis in Han’s recent works it’s this: We are living in a shallow, achievement society, where all negativity has been erased, edges smoothed and filters applied. We are showing more of ourselves, often in close ups, and seeing less of the ‘other’. In a constant pressure for achievement, success and self-gratification, we are becoming isolated and mentally ill, detached from nature, authentic experience and other people. In his most famous work, The Burnout Society, Han lays out the key framework for his argument. In the 20th century we lived in a ‘disci...