Recommendation
prolog

Chapter 1: Thinking about Lost Dignity
About the memories we have lost | No more insect sounds | Labor that is not respected | Precarious beings everywhere | The trap of profit maximization | When a fearful future becomes reality

Chapter 2: How Dignity Was Born
Old and Noble | The Middle Ages, Humans Resembling God | Kant, the Unconditional Command on Dignity | The Declaration of Dignity Blooming from the Ashes of War | Self-Understanding in a New Era

Chapter 3: The Extremely Human Brain
The Brain: Ability to Learn | The Human Social Brain | A Deeper Understanding of Humanity | The 21st Century's Most Urgent Challenge | Faulty Survival Strategies

Chapter 4: The Social Brain: Learning Dignity
Energy Minimization and Optimization | Consistency as a Survival Strategy | Identity as a Pattern

Chapter 5: In Search of Dignity Engraved in Instinct
Socialized Neural Circuits | Warning Lights of Crisis

Chapter 6: Why We Must Protect the Dignity of Others
Self-consciousness that begins with others | The painful experience of objectification | The mirror of the dignity of others

Chapter 7: The Beginning of a Journey to a Stronger Life
The First Step Toward Freedom | Between Crime and Dignity | You Can't Hurt Me

Chapter 8: What kind of world will we teach?
The Most Urgent Educational Issue | Waiting, Not Solutions | Rethinking the Meaning of Education

Chapter 9: To no longer live by means
The Dogma of the "Selfish Gene" | The Birth of a New Circuit | A Life That Feels Alive
Epilogue
Acknowledgements

The question that silenced the CEO: “Can you choose dignity over immediate profit?”

In a lecture hall with hundreds of people gathered, a scientist suddenly asked a CEO who was on the panel this question.
“You have been given the opportunity to make a very big profit.
But that opportunity is something that destroys your dignity.
“What choice will you make?” The CEO, caught in a dilemma, was speechless for a while.
As a representative of a company, I could not say that I would give up profits, but I could not say that I would give up my personal dignity either.
Could we, unlike that CEO, have unhesitatingly chosen dignity? Living in an age where only winning the competition and achieving wealth and fame are considered successful, we deeply empathize with how difficult that choice is.


The protagonist of this lecture that silenced the CEO was none other than Germany's leading intellectual and neurobiologist, Gerald Hütter.
He says that when people think of 'dignity', they think of natural rights guaranteed by the Constitution or philosophical topics, but from a neurobiological perspective, dignity is an innate 'instinct' that humans have and a 'sense' that we must revive in life.
His book, "Wurde: Was uns stark macht - als Einzelne und als Gesellschaft", which explains the meaning of dignity based on an objective analysis of the human nervous system and cognitive abilities, had a great impact on German society, staying in the top 10 of the German Amazon bestseller list for 26 consecutive weeks at the time of its publication.
This book seems to ask this question to us living in the same era.
“Are our lives truly dignified?”

In an age of lost dignity, "Why talk about a dignified life now?"

Since the Netherlands first legalized euthanasia in 2000, death with dignity has become a global issue.
But sitting in a field in Göttingen, where pollution has wiped out all the bees, Gerald Hütter raises a powerful question.
“Why do people talk about a dignified and dignified death, but not about a dignified life before that?”
Gerald Hütter, as a neuroscientist, identifies these undignified conditions of life one by one, and expresses deep concern about the aspects of our lives that are losing their way and heading towards destruction.
In the midst of the great wave of capitalism, everything that businesses, societies, and individuals have chosen to compete and survive has returned to us as unexpected results.
Environmental disasters such as global warming and air pollution that threaten our survival, the reality of labor being replaced by AI and automated robots in the name of profit maximization, and even the greed of individuals that has grown inflated amidst the countless advertisements and excessive information encountered online…
In this reality, humans, who should be an end in themselves, are reduced to objects and tools of evaluation, losing their direction and staggering.


What's interesting is that when we are in an environment that destroys basic human needs like affection, belonging, agency, and freedom, when we scan our brains with a precision machine, the same areas that are activated when the body feels pain are activated.
The brain literally suffers from the undignified reality.
In this way, “Living with Dignity” says that in this era of humiliation that causes suffering and loss of respect and dignity, in this era where humanity has been lost, the most urgent task is to revive the principle of life called dignity.


Dignity from a Neurobiological Perspective: "It's a Brain Sense, Not a Right"

What does "dignity" truly mean to humans? The human brain, which consumes 20% of its energy even while sleeping or resting, is already in such disarray that it struggles to function properly in today's complex society.
At this time, we need an inner compass that calms the confusion and provides a consistent direction, and Gerald Hütter reveals that 'dignity', a sense deeply rooted in the brain, plays this role.


Gerald Hütter, who has dedicated himself to educating the public by translating his research findings on anxiety, depression, potential, and motivation into everyday language, explains in this book that dignity is a belief system that influences human attitudes and behavior.
The human brain is a "social organ" that learns and is structured through experiences with others, forming new patterns of neurons that control and direct thought and behavior throughout life.
This property of the brain is called 'brain plasticity', and through this characteristic that only humans have, the belief system called dignity is formed.
Dignity is a sense that only humans possess.

The book's central proposition, "A human being who has come to recognize his own dignity is never deceived," comes from this very way the brain works.
People who have fully experienced protection, belonging, creativity, and autonomy in their relationships with others can sustain their lives against any external temptation based on a strongly rooted belief in "dignity."
Therefore, if a process is initiated to continuously help people recognize dignity in various communities, such as families, educational institutions, and workplaces, this will enable fundamental change and development not only for individuals but also for society.


How to Restore Dignity: "A person who recognizes dignity is never deceived."

Children have an intuition that something is wrong and a red light comes on.
Even though they haven't yet gone through the stage of forming a belief system, children already have a sense of dignity in the form of very subtle emotions from birth.
According to Gerald Hütter's research on the early stages of human brain formation, the most important task of education is to constantly make children 'aware of dignity'.


In an overly competitive society, our children inevitably encounter experiences where they become the objects of others' goals, expectations, and even orders, and they gradually lose the dignity that is inherent in them.
To avoid the pain of losing their dignity, children seek solutions, such as treating others as a means to an end, or making themselves objects of evaluation by others.
However, a child who is confident in his or her own dignity will not be greatly hurt by the rude behavior of others.
They are curious and passionate, and they study not to win competitions and be recognized, but because they are open-minded and find everything interesting.


When given ample time to learn what is most important in life and what it means to be human, the human brain can reach its full potential by thinking and acting more consistently and efficiently.
It's like someone who couldn't ride a bicycle without help, but after a few repetitions, they become accustomed to pedaling and are finally able to go further.
Gerald Hütter's assertion that through dignity, every individual can awaken their potential and be reborn as a free being comes as a warm encouragement to us who have grown weary from running solely for competition.

For individuals and societies that pursue greater happiness through dignity, beyond competition.

Even in the horrific Jewish concentration camps where human instincts were destroyed, humans tried to preserve their dignity.
As Dr. Viktor Frankl said, “The inalienable spiritual freedom that compels us to find ways to make our lives more meaningful, even to our last breath,” dignity is the power that gives us hope to live again in the last bastion of life.
Even amidst the countless incidents that have rocked Korean society, including drug abuse, sexual violence, bullying, and various other corruptions, the stories of those who extend a helping hand to the underprivileged in order to uphold the principle of dignity shine even brighter.
This book, which contains the insights gleaned from Gerald Hütter's lifelong research on the question, "What is a humane life, a life of dignity?", will provide courage to Korean society, living in a time of turmoil, to seek the possibility and potential for greater happiness.