Planner's Note

Part 1.
tone of thought
Part 2.
The End of Eros
Part 3.
spirit of hope

Translator's Note

The world's most beloved philosopher today
How does Han Byung-chul think and what does he see?
Running towards the wings of Eros and contradictory beauty
The spirit of hope finally reached by Han Byung-chul's thinking

Among living philosophers, Han Byung-Chul is the most widely read.
His books, which stand out for their sharp perspective, original thinking, and literary style, have been translated into dozens of languages ​​around the world and have become bestsellers in Germany, Korea, Europe, and Latin America.
Why is the world crazy about Han Byung-chul?
What fuels the thoughts of Han Byung-chul, the 'philosopher of diagnosis and naming'?
What is his gaze looking at now?
"The Tone of Thought" is the only book that captures Han Byung-chul's most unique voice.
It contains the origins, tone, and direction of Han Byung-chul's thoughts, as well as the trajectory of his thoughts that runs through the numerous books he published.
Beyond a society of fatigue and anxiety, the voice of Han Byung-chul, the world's most beloved philosopher, flows like an aria from the "Goldberg Variations," towards a spirit of hope.
This book is about Han Byeong-cheol.


Han Byung-chul Conference Trilogy
The pinnacle of Han Byung-chul's thoughts, conveyed through his own voice.

German philosopher Han Byung-chul and the largest Spanish-speaking publisher, Planeta, have embarked on a special project to publish a book of texts, photographs, and videos, followed by lectures and classical performances from 2024 to 2026.
"The Tone of Thought" is the first book in the "Han Byung-Chul Conference Trilogy," and contains the essence of Han Byung-Chul's most intimate confessions and thoughts.
The Korean edition published by Diplot was based on the German manuscript written by Han Byung-chul himself, translated into Korean, and then compared with the Spanish version, refining each sentence.
This was the best choice to most fully capture 'Han Byeong-cheol's voice'.


Han Byung-chul is a philosopher of diagnosis and naming.
Diagnose the contemporary wounds of society, describe the essence of the problem, and then give it an accurate name.
Names reveal, confront, and remember the identities of those things that exist both secretly and openly behind the phenomenon.
Published over ten years ago, "The Fatigued Society" created a surprising sensation around the world.
Among living philosophers, Byung-Chul Han is the most widely read, most beloved, and most beloved.
Meanwhile, he is also known as a reclusive philosopher who mainly stayed in Germany and devoted himself to research and writing.
The news that he, who had always opposed the posting of his public lectures on internet platforms, would be giving lectures in Leipzig, Lisbon, and Porto, not in Germany, and that he would publish them as the 'Han Byung-Chul Conference Trilogy', created a huge buzz.


“I have two wings.”
On the way Han Byung-chul's thinking works, its origins, tone, and direction.

Why is the world so fascinated by Han Byung-chul's thoughts?
How his language captivates people.
In this book, Han Byung-chul confesses for the first time how his thoughts are ignited and function.


“I have two wings (Flugel).”
“I don’t mean to use this word only in the sense of having a grand piano.
Because the two wings, the two grand pianos (dos pianos de cola), give me wings that actually allow me to fly.
I feel like I'm flying with these wings.
“I love these two wings, these two grand pianos, and the flight of imagination that their music brings.”
“It is impossible to think without the wings and flapping of Eros.
“For the thinking man soars on the wings of Eros towards the unknown, towards what has not yet been born, towards what is to come, towards the new.”
_In the text.

Han Byung-chul begins to talk about how his thoughts work through music.
He explains that paradoxes such as 'dark light, dark radiance, bright sadness' form the tone of thought.
Because truth is only completed in this ‘contradictory beauty.’
Some people complain that his books are too repetitive, but he says his books are more like variations than repetitions.
Just like Bach's "Goldberg Variations," the melody remains unchanged, but through numerous variations, the melody becomes clearer, denser, and more beautiful.
Byung-Chul Han explores the tone of thought and ideals of writing he pursues through texts by Friedrich Hölderlin, Bertolt Brecht, Roland Barthes, Rosa Luxemburg, Peter Handke, and Gabriele D'Annunzio.


“I am a person of hope.”
Beyond the exhausted and anxious society, on the spirit of hope finally reached

Parts 2 and 3 reiterate the essence of Han Byung-chul's thinking so far, but ultimately talk about the spirit of hope he has reached.
He covers his core works such as 『The Fatigued Society』, 『The Transparent Society』, 『The End of Eros』, 『The Expulsion of the Other』, 『The Painless Society』, 『The Dominance of Information』, 『The Contemplative Life』, 『The Crisis of Narrative』, 『Why Revolution is Impossible Today』, and his most recent work 『The Anxiety Society』 (original title 『The Spirit of Hope (Der Geist der Hoffnung)』), and tells the trajectory of his lifelong thinking and the 'spirit of hope' that captivates him right now, in highly elegant language.


Modern people live in isolated cells of a contact-deprived society.
We connect to the world through our smartphones.
We think we hold the world in our hands, but this is all we can do to increase our self-absorption.
We mistakenly believe that by flicking our smartphones around, we are making the world obey our needs, but in fact, the opposite is true.
The 'I' is isolated within the self and the absence of the world makes us depressed.
Any attempt to control the other leads to the other's annihilation.
In a world where the other has disappeared, we sink deeper and deeper into depression.
Han Byeong-cheol asks in a firm voice.
Can we still connect with each other today? Can we truly love in the face of the end of love?


“Can we still connect with each other today? Do we have the capacity to connect? Are we even capable of connecting with others? (…) Lack of physical contact causes stress and anxiety, and the absence of contact leads to depression.
I think we become more and more depressed because we are no longer able to connect with others, because we are caught up in our own egos.
“The absence of others is the cause of depression.” _From the text.

“The negativity of a disciplinary society creates madmen and criminals, and a performance-based society creates depressed people and dropouts,” Han Byung-chul once wrote.
“The beast takes the whip from its master and whips itself again in order to become its own master,” Kafka wrote.
We are reduced to “clones who each want to be unique,” ​​“herds of livestock,” and “absolute slaves.”
Neoliberal performance society demands constant self-exploitation.
We optimize ourselves until the moment we die, exploiting ourselves with our own free will.
A performance-based society inevitably leads to a society of anxiety.
Depression spreads like an epidemic, and anxiety and disgust are triggered everywhere.
Anxiety is used as a tool of power and regimes, and it stifles the seeds of hope.
It is at this very point, “at a historical crossroads,” that Han Byung-chul explores the essence of hope.
And it raises the spirit of hope.


Critics accuse him of being a pessimist, but Han Byung-chul declares himself a man of hope.
Only those who wish can think.
Unlike optimists, hopeful people accept the world's tragedies, the negative aspects of life, and its unpredictability.
'Nevertheless', they question the social structure and take action to create a completely different way of life.
In a neoliberal system, the cult of positivity de-solidars society, but hope brings people together and leads to reconciliation and solidarity.
The subject of positivity is ‘me’, but the subject of hope is ‘we’.


“To hope means to ‘expand hope’ and ‘spread the flame of hope.’
Hope is the leaven of revolution, the ferment of the new, the starting point of vita nova.
There is no such thing as a revolution of anxiety.
Because anxiety makes everyone submissive.
An anxious person submits to the ruler.
Just hoping for a different world, a better world, fosters the potential for revolution.
If revolution is not possible today, it is because we do not hope, because we live in anxiety, because our lives are reduced to survival.” _From the text.

Editor's Note

A place you can't find on a map

What does it mean to produce Han Byung-chul's book in a society of fatigue and anxiety?
Making a book for profit is, in Han Byeong-cheol's view, an impossible task from the start (“Hope is not optimism.
“It’s not the certainty that things will turn out well, but the certainty that whatever happens, it will be meaningful.” (From the text)
The history of books has certainly been like this, and despite the legend of the 'publishing recession' that has continued for decades, publishing has survived thanks to the spirit of the book.
Han Byeong-cheol says:
Critics call themselves pessimists, but in reality they are hopeful.
A person who faces impossibility and negativity and hopes 'nevertheless'.
A person who questions the social system that uses anxiety as a weapon to intimidate citizens and aspires to a completely different way of life.
A person who reaches out to the unknown, the untried, the unborn.
A person who affirms the other who cannot be controlled at all and fights against hatred and isolation.
A person who reinvents love in the face of its end.
A person who just does things without calculating success.
A person who endures by ruminating on Paul Celan's poetry whenever anxiety and depression strike.


The star
Still shining
nothing
Nothing was lost
_Paul Celan, excerpt from “Engfurung”.

So I am that kind of person too.
A place that cannot be found on a map, reached after twenty years of publishing.
We create a book of hope here and now.
Listening to Han Byung-chul's voice makes me a little braver.