Byung Chul Han

Who is Byung Chul Han?

Byung-Chul Han is a South Korean-born German philosopher and cultural theorist. Born in 1959 in Seoul, South Korea, he initially studied metallurgy before moving to Germany in the 1980s to study philosophy, German literature, and Catholic theology in Freiburg and Munich.

Han is best known for his critique of modern society in books like The Burnout Society, where he analyzes how the achievement-oriented culture leads to exhaustion and loss of meaning

Key ideas of Byung Chul Han

Byung-Chul Han is a leading philosopher providing a perceptive diagnosis of the pathologies of late modernity, digital technologies, and the crisis of meaning, while advocating for contemplation, embodiment, and re-enchantment as potential antidotes.

Here are some of his philosophical contributions that we could apply in everyday life:

Making time for contemplation and lingering

In our hyperactive "achievement society", Han advocates for the importance of contemplation, inactivity and lingering. He refers this as vita contemplativa, in response to Hannah Arendt’s book Vita activa or of the active life, which advocates human action.

This involves taking some time to slow down, do nothing, and let our minds wander without any goal or purpose. Like taking breaks from work to daydream, going for leisurely walks in nature, or spending time alone in quiet reflection.

Doing philosophy as art

Han is known for his short, impactful sentences that create a "haiku effect". He believes you can "enlighten the world in a few words" rather than a long treatise.

Cultivating embodied, analogue experiences

Han analyses how digital technologies, social media, and smartphones lead to distraction, loss of attention and narcissism. We are becoming infomaniacs losing touch with reality.

To counter the disembodiment and dematerialisation of the digital world, Han suggests re-engaging with physical, sensory reality. We can spend time away from screens doing analog activities — reading physical books, writing by hand, making art and crafts, cooking, gardening. Anything that grounds us in our bodies and the material world.

Recovering rituals and narratives

Han argues for the importance of shared rituals and narratives that provide meaning and bind society together, as opposed to just accumulating information and data.

In daily life, we can engage in both big and small rituals - family dinners, birthday celebrations, holiday traditions, community gatherings, religious services if applicable.

Appreciating beauty and mystery in the ordinary

Han wants to re-enchant a world stripped of magic by information. We can cultivate an enchanted perspective by noticing beauty, strangeness and mystery in everyday things.

The scent of coffee, the play of light, the laughter of children, the complexity of insects, the imperfect uniqueness of handmade objects — contemplating beauty spurs meaningful action.