Byung-Chul Han
Byung-Chul Han studied metallurgy at Korea University in Seoul [1] before he
moved to Germany 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 joined the Department of Philosophy at the University of Basel, where he
completed his Habilitation. In 2010 he became a faculty member at the Karlsruhe
University of Arts and Design, 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.[2]
Han is the author of sixteen books, of which the most recent are treatises on what he
terms a "society of tiredness" (Müdigkeitsgesellschaft), a "society of transparency"
(Transparenzgesellschaft), and on his neologist concept of shanzhai, which seeks to
identify modes of deconstruction in contemporary practices of Chinese capitalism.
Han's current work focuses on transparency as a cultural norm created by neoliberal
market forces, which he understands as the insatiable drive toward voluntary disclosure
bordering on the pornographic. According to Han, the dictates of transparency enforce a
totalitarian system of openness at the expense of other social values such as shame,
secrecy, and trust. [3]
Until recently, he refused to give radio and television interviews and rarely divulges any
biographical or personal details, including his date of birth, in public
Questions
a) What is his Doctoral Degree about?
b) What are his areas of interests?
c) What are his books?
d) What is the concept of “Shanzai” about?