Kairos Theater
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Description
Book Introduction
Go Myeong-seop, who explored the philosopher's deep inner world and grand space of thought through his previous works, "Nietzsche Theater" and "Heidegger Theater," has published "Kairos Theater," a book that examines the drama of rise to power, rebellion, and fall that has unfolded on the Korean political stage over the past three and a half years through the eyes of history and philosophy.
This book, written from March 2022 to September 2025, covers a period when a rebellious force seized power, threatened democracy, dreamed of permanent rule, attempted a rebellion, and was ultimately driven from power by the resistance of the citizens. It is a record of a citizen who witnessed a scene in history, and it is also a record of a philosopher who interprets this process within the context of the history of ideas and thought of East and West, past and present, and seeks to leave it as a philosophical asset for Korean society.
The author names this turbulent time that Korean society is currently going through as the 'Time of Kairos.'
Unlike 'Chronos', which is time that flows from the past to the future, 'Kairos' is time that begins in the future and opens up the present by revealing the past.
Kairos is what tells us what to do now by interpreting the past using the future we dream of as a light.
In other words, it is time to read past history in light of the dream of what kind of society we will create in the future, and decide what to learn from it and what to discard.
The author calls the new perception and new eyes that make this decision possible, borrowing Ham Seok-heon's expression, the task of understanding the "meaning of history."
This book provides a framework for interpreting the reckless rise and fall of political power experienced by Korean citizens over the past three and a half years, and the resulting shock and pain suffered by society.
It explores the crisis facing Korean democracy from a broad perspective, encompassing history, philosophy, mythology, literature, religion, and art from both the East and the West, and draws attention to the power of citizens, who have emerged as agents of change at every crucial moment in history.
Through the author's rich humanistic insights and keen awareness of reality, readers will be able to gauge the direction Korean society should take and the form of democracy that must be rebuilt and nurtured.
This book, written from March 2022 to September 2025, covers a period when a rebellious force seized power, threatened democracy, dreamed of permanent rule, attempted a rebellion, and was ultimately driven from power by the resistance of the citizens. It is a record of a citizen who witnessed a scene in history, and it is also a record of a philosopher who interprets this process within the context of the history of ideas and thought of East and West, past and present, and seeks to leave it as a philosophical asset for Korean society.
The author names this turbulent time that Korean society is currently going through as the 'Time of Kairos.'
Unlike 'Chronos', which is time that flows from the past to the future, 'Kairos' is time that begins in the future and opens up the present by revealing the past.
Kairos is what tells us what to do now by interpreting the past using the future we dream of as a light.
In other words, it is time to read past history in light of the dream of what kind of society we will create in the future, and decide what to learn from it and what to discard.
The author calls the new perception and new eyes that make this decision possible, borrowing Ham Seok-heon's expression, the task of understanding the "meaning of history."
This book provides a framework for interpreting the reckless rise and fall of political power experienced by Korean citizens over the past three and a half years, and the resulting shock and pain suffered by society.
It explores the crisis facing Korean democracy from a broad perspective, encompassing history, philosophy, mythology, literature, religion, and art from both the East and the West, and draws attention to the power of citizens, who have emerged as agents of change at every crucial moment in history.
Through the author's rich humanistic insights and keen awareness of reality, readers will be able to gauge the direction Korean society should take and the form of democracy that must be rebuilt and nurtured.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
Prologue - The Light of Kairos Revealed by the Meaning of History
Part 1: Conditions for Good Politics 2022
1.
The qualities of a good leader according to Xenophon
2.
“Treat people as ends in themselves”—that’s what Kant’s moral law says.
3.
The Dialectic of Hebris and Nemesis as Told by Sophocles' Chorus
4.
Thales in the well, Socrates lost in thought
5.
What Plato meant by “A country is a ship, a statesman is the helmsman”
6.
If we are trapped in 'Plato's cave'
7.
"Where have all the orators gone?" Han Feizi and Demosthenes
8.
The oppressed return
9.
What kind of country will we create?
10.
To control the arrogance of power addicts
11.
How Leviathan Falls
12.
Socrates' authority in shocking Alcibiades
13.
The country that Rousseau and Robespierre dreamed of
14.
Is there no way to stop the vicious cycle of politics?
15.
What do the sorcerers do in the Cave of Hermes?
Part 2: The Road to a Better World 2023
16.
From Cicero's 'On Duty' to Machiavelli's 'The Prince'
17.
The debate between Foucault and Derrida over "Descartes' Madman"
18.
If the powerful do not want to become a 'naked emperor'
19.
The Specter of 'Social Darwinism'
20.
Unhappy Consciousness and the Play of Life
21.
Urban's 'Crusade' or Raymundus' 'East-West Cooperation'?
22.
Mani's embrace or Schmidt's hostility?
23.
India, which opens its eyes and rises up to face the world
24.
Shamanism, shamanism, shamanism politics
25.
The Path to Peace on the Korean Peninsula: Learning from Abraxas
26.
"Anti-Japanese Independence Army or Gando Special Force?" Historical Consciousness and Collective Memory
27.
Who makes Job shed tears?
28.
The Southern Right Whale: A Path to Humanity and Coexistence on Earth
Part 3: Political Judgment and Creative Inspiration 2024
29.
An era in which political literacy is needed
30.
What Remains in a Religion That Has Lost Its Sacredness
31.
The evils of 'power politics' that lacks conviction and responsibility
32.
How to control a wild horse
33.
How does creative inspiration arise?
34.
The Athenian Judicial Democratization Caused by the Areopagus Coup
35.
Why is it so difficult to change wrong thoughts?
36.
The "double-crossing" relationship between North and South Korea fuels low-quality competition.
37.
"Pride leads to ruin" - a warning from Euripides' tragedy
38.
Common sense and counter-common sense of Japanese collaborators
39.
Logic without ethics is the enemy of democracy.
40.
Where justice has collapsed, fighting is justice.
41.
We overcome the present within history and move into the future.
Part 4: The Light of Kairos, 2025
42.
The reasonless nature of the civil war leader and the reasonless nature of Eichmann
43.
When the 'eyes of the soul' rot, the brain rots too.
44.
The bizarre beliefs of the insurgents who invoke pseudo-fascism
45.
The power of Eros changes the world.
46.
Narcissistic power politics is the enemy of democracy.
47.
Can Politicians Become Educators of Democracy?
48.
To remove the Hydra's head, you must dismantle its torso.
49.
When language is corrupted, the community is corrupted.
50.
History is a battle between the future and the past.
Epilogue - Plato, Aristotle, and Kang Jeung-san's Views on Women
References
Search
Part 1: Conditions for Good Politics 2022
1.
The qualities of a good leader according to Xenophon
2.
“Treat people as ends in themselves”—that’s what Kant’s moral law says.
3.
The Dialectic of Hebris and Nemesis as Told by Sophocles' Chorus
4.
Thales in the well, Socrates lost in thought
5.
What Plato meant by “A country is a ship, a statesman is the helmsman”
6.
If we are trapped in 'Plato's cave'
7.
"Where have all the orators gone?" Han Feizi and Demosthenes
8.
The oppressed return
9.
What kind of country will we create?
10.
To control the arrogance of power addicts
11.
How Leviathan Falls
12.
Socrates' authority in shocking Alcibiades
13.
The country that Rousseau and Robespierre dreamed of
14.
Is there no way to stop the vicious cycle of politics?
15.
What do the sorcerers do in the Cave of Hermes?
Part 2: The Road to a Better World 2023
16.
From Cicero's 'On Duty' to Machiavelli's 'The Prince'
17.
The debate between Foucault and Derrida over "Descartes' Madman"
18.
If the powerful do not want to become a 'naked emperor'
19.
The Specter of 'Social Darwinism'
20.
Unhappy Consciousness and the Play of Life
21.
Urban's 'Crusade' or Raymundus' 'East-West Cooperation'?
22.
Mani's embrace or Schmidt's hostility?
23.
India, which opens its eyes and rises up to face the world
24.
Shamanism, shamanism, shamanism politics
25.
The Path to Peace on the Korean Peninsula: Learning from Abraxas
26.
"Anti-Japanese Independence Army or Gando Special Force?" Historical Consciousness and Collective Memory
27.
Who makes Job shed tears?
28.
The Southern Right Whale: A Path to Humanity and Coexistence on Earth
Part 3: Political Judgment and Creative Inspiration 2024
29.
An era in which political literacy is needed
30.
What Remains in a Religion That Has Lost Its Sacredness
31.
The evils of 'power politics' that lacks conviction and responsibility
32.
How to control a wild horse
33.
How does creative inspiration arise?
34.
The Athenian Judicial Democratization Caused by the Areopagus Coup
35.
Why is it so difficult to change wrong thoughts?
36.
The "double-crossing" relationship between North and South Korea fuels low-quality competition.
37.
"Pride leads to ruin" - a warning from Euripides' tragedy
38.
Common sense and counter-common sense of Japanese collaborators
39.
Logic without ethics is the enemy of democracy.
40.
Where justice has collapsed, fighting is justice.
41.
We overcome the present within history and move into the future.
Part 4: The Light of Kairos, 2025
42.
The reasonless nature of the civil war leader and the reasonless nature of Eichmann
43.
When the 'eyes of the soul' rot, the brain rots too.
44.
The bizarre beliefs of the insurgents who invoke pseudo-fascism
45.
The power of Eros changes the world.
46.
Narcissistic power politics is the enemy of democracy.
47.
Can Politicians Become Educators of Democracy?
48.
To remove the Hydra's head, you must dismantle its torso.
49.
When language is corrupted, the community is corrupted.
50.
History is a battle between the future and the past.
Epilogue - Plato, Aristotle, and Kang Jeung-san's Views on Women
References
Search
Into the book
Based on Kant's original thinking, even if capitalism is overcome, the use of humans as a means will not disappear.
As finite beings, humans cannot help but live by using others as a means to an end within the division of labor system.
The important thing is that even when humans are used as a means, the principle of treating them as an end 'always and at the same time' is maintained.
… … Things like the ‘minimum wage system’ and ‘regulation of working hours’ are just some of the social breakwaters built through a long struggle against the waves of capital that instrumentalize and objectify humans.
During the last presidential election, promises to tear down these social defense mechanisms poured out from the mouths of leading candidates.
This is an anachronistic statement that does not consider the responsibility of those leading the country.
Isn't it the job of a nation to rein in the greed of capital and control its destructive power?
A country becomes a country only when it does such things.
To declare that we will use state power to abolish the mechanisms that protect the vulnerable humanity of many of our members is to declare that we will treat human beings not as ends in themselves, but only as means.
You cannot use others as a means to an end and become an end in yourself.
Because it is the law of human existence that when one destroys the humanity of others, one's own humanity is also destroyed.
--- From "What Kant's moral law says: 'Treat humanity as an end in itself'"
Thales raised his head and looked at the sky, while Socrates turned his eyes from heaven to the ground.
The humanities would be the accumulation of questions about humans and human life that encompass these two directions of thought.
Here, it is worth recalling the concluding remarks of Kant's Critique of Practical Reason, which were inscribed on his tomb.
“There are two things that fill the mind with ever-newer and ever-increasing wonder and awe the more often and longer we think about them.
“The starry sky above me and the moral law within me are that.” That heart that connects the stars and morality and looks upon them with awe and wonder is the heart of the humanities.
People keep saying that the humanities are unnecessary.
It is no different from the laughter of a Thracian maid.
A person who openly denied the humanities during the presidential election period has been elected president and is about to take office.
With the launch of the new government, the calls and currents calling for the elimination of "useless humanities" are sure to intensify.
However, it is clear that a humane life and a humane community cannot exist in a world that has lost the heart of the humanities and is only interested in what makes money.
--- From "Against the Claim that the Humanities Are Unnecessary"
Machiavelli accepted Polybius' view and believed that to prevent this cycle of destruction, a mixed government that combined the strengths of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy was necessary.
The mixed republic proposed by Machiavelli later led to Montesquieu's theory of separation of powers, and then to today's democratic system.
Also, after this mixed system of governments gained universality, Polybius' theory of the cycle of governments was pushed out and the theory of regime change was introduced.
The logic is that politics becomes stable when the ruling and opposition parties, progressives and conservatives, take turns in taking power.
However, a change of government does not guarantee political stability and improvement.
If the change of government is not one in which good power competes with good power, but one in which bad power suppresses good power, then such a change will not bring about political maturity or national development.
The political shift that degenerates democracy into mercantilist politics undermines faith in democracy and robs people of their dedication to the public good, leading to a virtual state of anarchy in which self-interest and greed run rampant, mocking the spirit of the law.
Is there no way to stop this vicious cycle of history?
--- From "Is there no way to stop the vicious cycle of politics?"
What is needed here is the writer's self-restraint to create a cycle of creation and negation.
Self-restraint is suppressing one's passion by keeping a distance from creative activity, and at the same time controlling that passion so that destructive activity does not end in complete destruction.
Herein lies the secret of creation.
Self-restraint is also a key driving force in human self-creation.
Schlegel believed that maintaining a state of tension like a taut bow by controlling passion with the same intensity as the passion that erupts is the true form of a free human being.
This is what philosopher Richard Rorty (1931-2007) calls an 'ironist'.
Roti's ironist is a person who embodies 'romantic irony'.
The ironist is a human being who is always in the process of forming, who denies and overcomes his own self-confidence through self-doubt.
The ironist's attitude is to limit his actions and go beyond himself by objectifying himself.
This attitude is a quality that is more necessary for those in power than anyone else.
To avoid being trapped by the egocentrism of power, those in power must become ironists.
Otherwise, we could witness a fairy tale of the 'Emperor's New Clothes' walking down the street in real life.
--- From "Those in power must be reborn as ironists"
Will we remember the anti-Japanese independence fighters who fought against imperialist rule, or will we remember the Gando Special Forces that suppressed those independence fighters?
Depending on what you remember, the image of history changes completely.
As Ham Seok-heon said, history is “prophecy and judgment.”
Depending on what we judge and what we uphold, the answer to the question, “What kind of country will we create?” will also change.
If historical consciousness is distorted, future history will be distorted.
The persistent attempt by the New Right ruling party to change history by placing those who sold out their country and compatriots at the center of history is no different from a collective confession that they will once again sacrifice their country and become a pawn of a larger nation when the world changes.
There is no self-esteem or self-affirmation here.
When people like this take power and lead the country, the ethical awareness of the entire country deteriorates.
If you don't respect yourself, you won't respect others.
Power replaces justice, and each for himself becomes the law of survival.
A country that does not have a proper sense of history, a country that does not ask about the true meaning of history, is bound to become a den of wild dogs.
--- From "The shape of history changes completely depending on what you remember"
If we extend morality to all things in nature as Haewol taught, our perspective on things can open up in a completely different way.
We are gradually realizing the true meaning of Haewol's philosophy, that nature is the ultimate morality, only now, faced with the unprecedented disaster of the climate crisis.
Only when human abuse of things reaches its limit and things become unbearable does a great reversal occur.
One example of this reversal is the movement to grant legal personality to the endangered southern right whale.
The idea of recognizing plants and animals, and even natural objects such as rivers and lakes, as independent rights holders is an idea that goes beyond the modern legal system.
… … If plants, animals, and natural objects are granted personhood, they can break through this modern legal system and claim their rights as ‘non-humans’ by making humans their guardians.
The southern right whale becomes the pioneer and opens the way for a symbiotic relationship between humans and nature on Earth.
… … The center at that time was not the center in the sense that man was the master and ruler of everything, but the ‘empty center’ that emptied the arrogance of the modern subject.
When humans stand at the center of emptiness and accept and serve all things as their neighbors, that will be the moment when humans finally awaken from the ignorance of modern times.
--- From "Only when one reaches the realm of the natural world can one perfect one's morality"
Ethics of belief and ethics of responsibility are complementary to each other.
A person with a 'calling for politics' must maintain both an ethics of belief and an ethics of responsibility.
If the ethics of belief are not to become blind, they must be accompanied by the ethics of responsibility. Conversely, if the ethics of responsibility are to be carried out to the end, they must be supported by the ethics of belief.
Integrating these two ethics is something that any politician must do.
The ethics of responsibility and the ethics of conviction are combined to create a complete politics that pursues ideals in reality.
So what truly stands in opposition to this "ethical politics"? "Power politics," which Weber critiques briefly but powerfully in this lecture, is the type of politics that stands on the opposite side of ethical politics.
The power politics Weber speaks of is politics that aims not at ethical or ideological values, but at the acquisition and enjoyment of power itself.
Enjoying the 'prestige' that comes with power is what power politics aims for.
… …
“We see the sudden inner collapse of typical figures with a creed of power politics, and we see the weakness and helplessness hidden behind the gestures of arrogance and pride, but in reality, empty.” … … The sad thing is that until that moment comes, so many people suffer, swept up in the dance of power.
Power politics doesn't just ruin those who wield power.
Where power politics prevails, the lives of the people are also marred.
--- From "Where power politics reigns supreme, the lives of the people are also bruised"
The Athenian people were outraged by the collapse of fairness in trials and demanded reform of the judicial system.
The result was the judicial reform led by Ephialdes in 461 BC.
This reform introduced the jury system, in which citizens directly conducted trials.
… … The jury system was the pinnacle of Athenian democracy, which broke down the collusive practice of a privileged few favoring each other and expanded citizen sovereignty to the entire judicial sphere.
As the history of Athenian judicial democracy shows, any system or practice that allows a minority to reign above the law is bound to collapse in the face of popular resistance.
The spirit of the republic, which is the universal rule of law, does not tolerate a privileged class that privatizes law above the law.
The power of the prosecution is currently being pointed out as the most indulgent privileged power in this country.
The case of the Areopagus, which was stripped of its judicial power by the sovereign decree of the Athenian citizens, foreshadows the future of prosecutorial power in this country.
--- From "The Future of Prosecutorial Power Heralded by the Democracy of the Judiciary in Athens"
Every community is a language community.
Language is the foundation and blood vessel of a community.
The quality of a community is determined by the level of language it speaks.
The language of reason, based on compassion, elevates the community, but the language of deception, driven by greed, erodes it.
What is more frightening is the corruption of political language.
Political language has such overwhelming power that its corruption can lead to the corruption of the entire nation.
Political language that describes acts of rebellion that destroy democracy and the democratic constitution as a nationally savior decision to save the “free Republic of Korea” and protect “liberal democracy” is the downfall and death of language.
Media that carries such language is media that incites self-destruction.
We think in language and express our thoughts in language.
When language is distorted, our thoughts become distorted too.
Language is the eyes and the window.
When language is trapped in selfishness, we cannot see broadly or highly.
If our community is to become a human community, our language must become clear.
Good politics builds community by refining language.
Our community language must fly beyond the language of greed, beyond the howling of beasts.
As finite beings, humans cannot help but live by using others as a means to an end within the division of labor system.
The important thing is that even when humans are used as a means, the principle of treating them as an end 'always and at the same time' is maintained.
… … Things like the ‘minimum wage system’ and ‘regulation of working hours’ are just some of the social breakwaters built through a long struggle against the waves of capital that instrumentalize and objectify humans.
During the last presidential election, promises to tear down these social defense mechanisms poured out from the mouths of leading candidates.
This is an anachronistic statement that does not consider the responsibility of those leading the country.
Isn't it the job of a nation to rein in the greed of capital and control its destructive power?
A country becomes a country only when it does such things.
To declare that we will use state power to abolish the mechanisms that protect the vulnerable humanity of many of our members is to declare that we will treat human beings not as ends in themselves, but only as means.
You cannot use others as a means to an end and become an end in yourself.
Because it is the law of human existence that when one destroys the humanity of others, one's own humanity is also destroyed.
--- From "What Kant's moral law says: 'Treat humanity as an end in itself'"
Thales raised his head and looked at the sky, while Socrates turned his eyes from heaven to the ground.
The humanities would be the accumulation of questions about humans and human life that encompass these two directions of thought.
Here, it is worth recalling the concluding remarks of Kant's Critique of Practical Reason, which were inscribed on his tomb.
“There are two things that fill the mind with ever-newer and ever-increasing wonder and awe the more often and longer we think about them.
“The starry sky above me and the moral law within me are that.” That heart that connects the stars and morality and looks upon them with awe and wonder is the heart of the humanities.
People keep saying that the humanities are unnecessary.
It is no different from the laughter of a Thracian maid.
A person who openly denied the humanities during the presidential election period has been elected president and is about to take office.
With the launch of the new government, the calls and currents calling for the elimination of "useless humanities" are sure to intensify.
However, it is clear that a humane life and a humane community cannot exist in a world that has lost the heart of the humanities and is only interested in what makes money.
--- From "Against the Claim that the Humanities Are Unnecessary"
Machiavelli accepted Polybius' view and believed that to prevent this cycle of destruction, a mixed government that combined the strengths of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy was necessary.
The mixed republic proposed by Machiavelli later led to Montesquieu's theory of separation of powers, and then to today's democratic system.
Also, after this mixed system of governments gained universality, Polybius' theory of the cycle of governments was pushed out and the theory of regime change was introduced.
The logic is that politics becomes stable when the ruling and opposition parties, progressives and conservatives, take turns in taking power.
However, a change of government does not guarantee political stability and improvement.
If the change of government is not one in which good power competes with good power, but one in which bad power suppresses good power, then such a change will not bring about political maturity or national development.
The political shift that degenerates democracy into mercantilist politics undermines faith in democracy and robs people of their dedication to the public good, leading to a virtual state of anarchy in which self-interest and greed run rampant, mocking the spirit of the law.
Is there no way to stop this vicious cycle of history?
--- From "Is there no way to stop the vicious cycle of politics?"
What is needed here is the writer's self-restraint to create a cycle of creation and negation.
Self-restraint is suppressing one's passion by keeping a distance from creative activity, and at the same time controlling that passion so that destructive activity does not end in complete destruction.
Herein lies the secret of creation.
Self-restraint is also a key driving force in human self-creation.
Schlegel believed that maintaining a state of tension like a taut bow by controlling passion with the same intensity as the passion that erupts is the true form of a free human being.
This is what philosopher Richard Rorty (1931-2007) calls an 'ironist'.
Roti's ironist is a person who embodies 'romantic irony'.
The ironist is a human being who is always in the process of forming, who denies and overcomes his own self-confidence through self-doubt.
The ironist's attitude is to limit his actions and go beyond himself by objectifying himself.
This attitude is a quality that is more necessary for those in power than anyone else.
To avoid being trapped by the egocentrism of power, those in power must become ironists.
Otherwise, we could witness a fairy tale of the 'Emperor's New Clothes' walking down the street in real life.
--- From "Those in power must be reborn as ironists"
Will we remember the anti-Japanese independence fighters who fought against imperialist rule, or will we remember the Gando Special Forces that suppressed those independence fighters?
Depending on what you remember, the image of history changes completely.
As Ham Seok-heon said, history is “prophecy and judgment.”
Depending on what we judge and what we uphold, the answer to the question, “What kind of country will we create?” will also change.
If historical consciousness is distorted, future history will be distorted.
The persistent attempt by the New Right ruling party to change history by placing those who sold out their country and compatriots at the center of history is no different from a collective confession that they will once again sacrifice their country and become a pawn of a larger nation when the world changes.
There is no self-esteem or self-affirmation here.
When people like this take power and lead the country, the ethical awareness of the entire country deteriorates.
If you don't respect yourself, you won't respect others.
Power replaces justice, and each for himself becomes the law of survival.
A country that does not have a proper sense of history, a country that does not ask about the true meaning of history, is bound to become a den of wild dogs.
--- From "The shape of history changes completely depending on what you remember"
If we extend morality to all things in nature as Haewol taught, our perspective on things can open up in a completely different way.
We are gradually realizing the true meaning of Haewol's philosophy, that nature is the ultimate morality, only now, faced with the unprecedented disaster of the climate crisis.
Only when human abuse of things reaches its limit and things become unbearable does a great reversal occur.
One example of this reversal is the movement to grant legal personality to the endangered southern right whale.
The idea of recognizing plants and animals, and even natural objects such as rivers and lakes, as independent rights holders is an idea that goes beyond the modern legal system.
… … If plants, animals, and natural objects are granted personhood, they can break through this modern legal system and claim their rights as ‘non-humans’ by making humans their guardians.
The southern right whale becomes the pioneer and opens the way for a symbiotic relationship between humans and nature on Earth.
… … The center at that time was not the center in the sense that man was the master and ruler of everything, but the ‘empty center’ that emptied the arrogance of the modern subject.
When humans stand at the center of emptiness and accept and serve all things as their neighbors, that will be the moment when humans finally awaken from the ignorance of modern times.
--- From "Only when one reaches the realm of the natural world can one perfect one's morality"
Ethics of belief and ethics of responsibility are complementary to each other.
A person with a 'calling for politics' must maintain both an ethics of belief and an ethics of responsibility.
If the ethics of belief are not to become blind, they must be accompanied by the ethics of responsibility. Conversely, if the ethics of responsibility are to be carried out to the end, they must be supported by the ethics of belief.
Integrating these two ethics is something that any politician must do.
The ethics of responsibility and the ethics of conviction are combined to create a complete politics that pursues ideals in reality.
So what truly stands in opposition to this "ethical politics"? "Power politics," which Weber critiques briefly but powerfully in this lecture, is the type of politics that stands on the opposite side of ethical politics.
The power politics Weber speaks of is politics that aims not at ethical or ideological values, but at the acquisition and enjoyment of power itself.
Enjoying the 'prestige' that comes with power is what power politics aims for.
… …
“We see the sudden inner collapse of typical figures with a creed of power politics, and we see the weakness and helplessness hidden behind the gestures of arrogance and pride, but in reality, empty.” … … The sad thing is that until that moment comes, so many people suffer, swept up in the dance of power.
Power politics doesn't just ruin those who wield power.
Where power politics prevails, the lives of the people are also marred.
--- From "Where power politics reigns supreme, the lives of the people are also bruised"
The Athenian people were outraged by the collapse of fairness in trials and demanded reform of the judicial system.
The result was the judicial reform led by Ephialdes in 461 BC.
This reform introduced the jury system, in which citizens directly conducted trials.
… … The jury system was the pinnacle of Athenian democracy, which broke down the collusive practice of a privileged few favoring each other and expanded citizen sovereignty to the entire judicial sphere.
As the history of Athenian judicial democracy shows, any system or practice that allows a minority to reign above the law is bound to collapse in the face of popular resistance.
The spirit of the republic, which is the universal rule of law, does not tolerate a privileged class that privatizes law above the law.
The power of the prosecution is currently being pointed out as the most indulgent privileged power in this country.
The case of the Areopagus, which was stripped of its judicial power by the sovereign decree of the Athenian citizens, foreshadows the future of prosecutorial power in this country.
--- From "The Future of Prosecutorial Power Heralded by the Democracy of the Judiciary in Athens"
Every community is a language community.
Language is the foundation and blood vessel of a community.
The quality of a community is determined by the level of language it speaks.
The language of reason, based on compassion, elevates the community, but the language of deception, driven by greed, erodes it.
What is more frightening is the corruption of political language.
Political language has such overwhelming power that its corruption can lead to the corruption of the entire nation.
Political language that describes acts of rebellion that destroy democracy and the democratic constitution as a nationally savior decision to save the “free Republic of Korea” and protect “liberal democracy” is the downfall and death of language.
Media that carries such language is media that incites self-destruction.
We think in language and express our thoughts in language.
When language is distorted, our thoughts become distorted too.
Language is the eyes and the window.
When language is trapped in selfishness, we cannot see broadly or highly.
If our community is to become a human community, our language must become clear.
Good politics builds community by refining language.
Our community language must fly beyond the language of greed, beyond the howling of beasts.
--- From "When language is corrupted, the community is corrupted"
Publisher's Review
The drama of the rise and fall of a rebellious force on the Korean political stage
Historical Insights and Philosophical Perspectives on Reading a "Macbeth-like" Political Narrative
A new landscape for our intellectual history, weaving together 'thoughts from East and West, past and present.'
The Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which came to power with the power of the prosecution, suppressed all voices of criticism and pursued all kinds of personal gain, eventually leading to civil war.
But this dream of absolute power was shattered by the resistance of citizens who poured into the square.
The author overlaps this with Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth.
Macbeth, who usurped the crown through blood, becomes anxious, becomes a tyrant, and incites rebellion.
Only when the rebels' spearheads are right before his eyes and his wife has lost her life does he realize in despair that life is a play, and that all people play their parts and then disappear without a trace.
This book is a collection of essays written in real time to follow the rise to power and fall of the civil war forces, which faithfully reenact the epic of Macbeth in today's Korean political arena.
The book's structure follows the order of writing, from March 2022 to September 2025, allowing readers to interweave the events of the time with the author's rich humanistic texts, gaining historical insight and a philosophical perspective on how to view this massive event that shook Korean society.
In an article written in 2022, the year the Yoon Seok-yeol administration took office, the author cites Plato's "The Statesman," which compares a ship to a polis, a politician to a helmsman, and the art of governing a country to the art of steering.
“Just as a ship sinks and disappears due to the incompetence of its helmsman and sailors, so too many nations are, have been, and will perish due to the incompetence of those who do not know the ‘most important thing’ (the art of governing).” The author then quotes The Republic, which sharply criticizes sailors (politicians) who gain power by blinding the eyes of shipowners (the people) and squander the community’s wealth, and conveys Plato’s warning from 2,000 years ago that a false helmsman can lead to a ship that dances and then sinks.
Despite these warnings, the ship called Korean society at the time was on the verge of sinking.
Readers of this article, having barely escaped the crisis, will be reminded of Plato's long-standing warning.
Meanwhile, the author reads the duality of the myth of Hermes, the god of interpretation and translation, but also of concealment and distortion, alongside Aristotle's Politics, which states that "law is intellect without desire," and worries about the consequences that will arise when those who deal with law become corrupt.
The rule of law means that universal reason itself governs without the interference of human private desires. However, if those who interpret and enforce the law take on the appearance of Hermes, who deceive, conceal, and cover up, citizens will no longer be able to trust them.
The author's diagnosis resonates deeply even at this point in time, when the prosecution and the judiciary are obstructing efforts to convict those responsible for the rebellion.
When the law becomes an unjust weapon to attack the enemy, when the law becomes a sharp tool to strike the opponent, the law becomes a political beast called the law.
As a ‘spirit without desire,’ the law disappears and only ‘spirit without desire’ runs wild.
When crimes that are committed through abuse of power are covered up and crimes that do not exist are created, and when the courts participate in these unfair acts and mock the spirit of the law, a lawless state occurs where there is law but no law.
Legal technicians who deal with the law become enemies of the law.
We have lived through harsh and horrific times when state power created criminals through torture and manipulation, and judges sentenced these criminals as if they were paying a price for their crimes.
We can't go back to that time.
We must escape from this dark Hermes cave dug by the sorcerers.
- Pages 129-130
In this way, the author richly interprets the past three and a half years, when all the accumulated ills and contradictions of Korean society exploded simultaneously, by weaving them together with Eastern and Western history, philosophy, mythology, religion, literature, and art texts.
Through the author's writing, which freely navigates the vast world of the humanities, readers can situate the intense "political-philosophical drama" experienced by Korean society in the 2020s within the political and intellectual history of humanity spanning thousands of years.
What should we keep and what should we discard?
Overcoming the crisis of democracy by revealing the meaning of history
Kairos, the time to find the dream of shared existence achieved through your and my freedom.
Kairos, the concept that runs through this book, means 'a flash of light that illuminates the present.'
These words contain the author's critical awareness that we need eyes that can see through the bright light of the current state of Korean society, where democracy is regressing, hate speech is rampant, and events that shake our understanding of history continue to occur.
The author says that today's reality is the accumulation of a long history, and that in order to properly understand the problems we are facing now, we must correctly read the history created by the times that have passed.
The moment when the eye opens, the moment when we can discern what to keep and what to discard among the things that have come from history, that is, the past, and that make up our present, is the moment of Kairos.
This book provides the intellectual foundation needed for those moments of insight and decision that come like a flash of light, a light of recognition that opens your eyes.
The author emphasizes that this is a time when we need the intellectual activity of rereading the past with the light of the future to illuminate the present, that is, to realize what Korean society must do now, and he brings up the concept of “the meaning of history” established by Ham Seok-heon in his 1960s book “Korean History Seen through Meaning.”
The meaning of history, according to Ham Seok-heon, is the aspirations of our community, the common dream that the community dreams together.
Ham Seok-heon also said that history is 'both a judgment and a prophecy.'
By judging what to judge and what to remember and inherit from history, dreaming together about the nation we want to create, and facing reality while embracing that dream, we can envision a better future.
In this way, the author positions this book as a work that renews the tradition of Korean intellectual history by invoking not only Eastern and Western philosophical thought but also the context of Korean intellectual history in the process of reading our unique political experience.
So, what will the future look like when this ‘meaning of history’ is realized?
The author envisions a future where my freedom and your freedom coexist, a nation of free people where each of us creates and realizes ourselves, a democratic republic where free people meet and become free.
Now is the right time to design such a future, the decisive moment to foster the collective dreaming of the community—that Kairos moment.
History with meaning is the history of freedom.
Ham Seok-heon interprets freedom as ‘doing it yourself.’
Freedom to do it yourself is life.
In history, each of us is free and alive.
Each of us is a living freedom that forges its own path by striving to move forward.
At the same time, each person's freedom is always a freedom that is conditioned by the existence of the other.
We are born as co-existence and live as co-existence.
Therefore, each cannot exist without the other.
I can't exist without you.
Only after I know you as you can I know myself as myself.
Therefore, our freedom blossoms on the premise of your freedom.
Without your freedom, there is no freedom for me.
All freedom is a freedom limited between you and me.
Freedom without a typewriter is abstract freedom, freedom against freedom.
If my freedom is true freedom, then it always embraces your freedom.
… … A democratic republic is a country created by free people meeting free people.
When the power of creation erupts in that space of freedom, each of us can blossom into our true selves.
The meaning of history that Ham Seok-heon worked so hard to call for was to create a country of free people who create and realize themselves.
The moment of Kairos is when, in light of the meaning of history, it becomes clear what we must do here and now.
The moment is light and snow.
When the light shines, the eyes open.
- Pages 20-21
How do citizens become subjects of history?
The courage and wisdom of citizens who protect democracy and create good politics
The book opens with an anecdote about Athens, which faced the Persian Empire's hundreds of thousands of troops, and after a heated debate over whether to fight or to close its doors and avoid war, Athens sought the will of the god Apollo, and gave the citizens the final authority to interpret the oracle, ultimately winning the war.
The introduction to the book describes the triumph and prosperity achieved by the collective wisdom of the citizens, and the golden age of Athenian democracy as a result, showing that the spirit contained therein, the essence of democracy in which citizens are the masters, is the core theme that runs through the book.
The author then mentions Politeia, a mixed system that combines the strengths of democracy and aristocracy, which Aristotle, who witnessed the rise and fall of numerous countries including Athens, suggested as the best political system, and emphasizes that the capabilities of citizens are a decisive factor in determining the success or failure of a country, not only in the ancient polis but also in the modern democratic republics that followed it.
When citizens' eyes on politics become clouded, democracy is bound to slip and fall off the path, and the message that it is ultimately the citizens who will be the ones to put a deviated democracy back on track is a cold awakening to the Korean citizens who were unable to stop the rise of the rebels but ultimately became the ones who drove them from power.
The people are the 'modern monarchs'.
Therefore, we can get closer to the true meaning of Machiavelli's 'reason of state' when we read it as the reason of the people rather than the reason of the monarch.
The people, the masters of the country, can resort to the ferocity of a lion and the cunning of a fox when the country is in crisis.
… …The dominance of dark forces does not last forever.
Darkness eventually brings light.
Who calls? The people call.
The people, the masters of the country, reject the darkness and bring in light by resisting it.
The people are the subject of history, practicing the dialectics of good and evil.
- Page 138
To prevent politics from collapsing, citizens, both as observers and participants, must develop the ability to discern between what is false and what is true, and to weed out lies.
Politics becoming politics depends on the citizens' ability to discern between the fake and the real.
… … Democracy is like a fragile vessel.
Without the political literacy to discern truth from falsehood, democracy cannot be strengthened, no matter how diverse opinions are expressed.
When blindness thrives in the name of opinion, democracy withers away.
- Pages 227-230
Korean society is returning to normal thanks to the combined strength of the brave citizens who rushed to the National Assembly building on the night martial law was declared and the wise citizens who guarded the plaza for months afterward and rebuilt the crumbling democracy.
The author calls this power 'the power of Eros.'
Borrowing from Socrates' words, "A human being who embraces Eros moves toward the beautiful and seeks to create good and excellent things within that beauty," we present a hopeful outlook that our citizens who embrace Eros will ultimately change the world and create a just nation.
The experience of Korean citizens, who rewrote the drama of seizing power, rebellion, and downfall by the forces of civil war into a drama of despair, resistance, and victory, speaks eloquently to the 'meaning of history.'
The author meticulously weaves together the numerous countries that have risen and fallen throughout history, the political systems they each adopted, and the development of political thought based on those experiences with the reality of today's Korea, presenting a rich narrative of the process by which citizens become the main actors of history.
This book, a unique achievement by author Go Myeong-seop, who possesses the deep and broad insight of a humanist, the keen eye of an intellectual who observes the field, and the penmanship of a writer who constructs rich narratives, will offer readers a new horizon of literary political criticism.
Historical Insights and Philosophical Perspectives on Reading a "Macbeth-like" Political Narrative
A new landscape for our intellectual history, weaving together 'thoughts from East and West, past and present.'
The Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which came to power with the power of the prosecution, suppressed all voices of criticism and pursued all kinds of personal gain, eventually leading to civil war.
But this dream of absolute power was shattered by the resistance of citizens who poured into the square.
The author overlaps this with Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth.
Macbeth, who usurped the crown through blood, becomes anxious, becomes a tyrant, and incites rebellion.
Only when the rebels' spearheads are right before his eyes and his wife has lost her life does he realize in despair that life is a play, and that all people play their parts and then disappear without a trace.
This book is a collection of essays written in real time to follow the rise to power and fall of the civil war forces, which faithfully reenact the epic of Macbeth in today's Korean political arena.
The book's structure follows the order of writing, from March 2022 to September 2025, allowing readers to interweave the events of the time with the author's rich humanistic texts, gaining historical insight and a philosophical perspective on how to view this massive event that shook Korean society.
In an article written in 2022, the year the Yoon Seok-yeol administration took office, the author cites Plato's "The Statesman," which compares a ship to a polis, a politician to a helmsman, and the art of governing a country to the art of steering.
“Just as a ship sinks and disappears due to the incompetence of its helmsman and sailors, so too many nations are, have been, and will perish due to the incompetence of those who do not know the ‘most important thing’ (the art of governing).” The author then quotes The Republic, which sharply criticizes sailors (politicians) who gain power by blinding the eyes of shipowners (the people) and squander the community’s wealth, and conveys Plato’s warning from 2,000 years ago that a false helmsman can lead to a ship that dances and then sinks.
Despite these warnings, the ship called Korean society at the time was on the verge of sinking.
Readers of this article, having barely escaped the crisis, will be reminded of Plato's long-standing warning.
Meanwhile, the author reads the duality of the myth of Hermes, the god of interpretation and translation, but also of concealment and distortion, alongside Aristotle's Politics, which states that "law is intellect without desire," and worries about the consequences that will arise when those who deal with law become corrupt.
The rule of law means that universal reason itself governs without the interference of human private desires. However, if those who interpret and enforce the law take on the appearance of Hermes, who deceive, conceal, and cover up, citizens will no longer be able to trust them.
The author's diagnosis resonates deeply even at this point in time, when the prosecution and the judiciary are obstructing efforts to convict those responsible for the rebellion.
When the law becomes an unjust weapon to attack the enemy, when the law becomes a sharp tool to strike the opponent, the law becomes a political beast called the law.
As a ‘spirit without desire,’ the law disappears and only ‘spirit without desire’ runs wild.
When crimes that are committed through abuse of power are covered up and crimes that do not exist are created, and when the courts participate in these unfair acts and mock the spirit of the law, a lawless state occurs where there is law but no law.
Legal technicians who deal with the law become enemies of the law.
We have lived through harsh and horrific times when state power created criminals through torture and manipulation, and judges sentenced these criminals as if they were paying a price for their crimes.
We can't go back to that time.
We must escape from this dark Hermes cave dug by the sorcerers.
- Pages 129-130
In this way, the author richly interprets the past three and a half years, when all the accumulated ills and contradictions of Korean society exploded simultaneously, by weaving them together with Eastern and Western history, philosophy, mythology, religion, literature, and art texts.
Through the author's writing, which freely navigates the vast world of the humanities, readers can situate the intense "political-philosophical drama" experienced by Korean society in the 2020s within the political and intellectual history of humanity spanning thousands of years.
What should we keep and what should we discard?
Overcoming the crisis of democracy by revealing the meaning of history
Kairos, the time to find the dream of shared existence achieved through your and my freedom.
Kairos, the concept that runs through this book, means 'a flash of light that illuminates the present.'
These words contain the author's critical awareness that we need eyes that can see through the bright light of the current state of Korean society, where democracy is regressing, hate speech is rampant, and events that shake our understanding of history continue to occur.
The author says that today's reality is the accumulation of a long history, and that in order to properly understand the problems we are facing now, we must correctly read the history created by the times that have passed.
The moment when the eye opens, the moment when we can discern what to keep and what to discard among the things that have come from history, that is, the past, and that make up our present, is the moment of Kairos.
This book provides the intellectual foundation needed for those moments of insight and decision that come like a flash of light, a light of recognition that opens your eyes.
The author emphasizes that this is a time when we need the intellectual activity of rereading the past with the light of the future to illuminate the present, that is, to realize what Korean society must do now, and he brings up the concept of “the meaning of history” established by Ham Seok-heon in his 1960s book “Korean History Seen through Meaning.”
The meaning of history, according to Ham Seok-heon, is the aspirations of our community, the common dream that the community dreams together.
Ham Seok-heon also said that history is 'both a judgment and a prophecy.'
By judging what to judge and what to remember and inherit from history, dreaming together about the nation we want to create, and facing reality while embracing that dream, we can envision a better future.
In this way, the author positions this book as a work that renews the tradition of Korean intellectual history by invoking not only Eastern and Western philosophical thought but also the context of Korean intellectual history in the process of reading our unique political experience.
So, what will the future look like when this ‘meaning of history’ is realized?
The author envisions a future where my freedom and your freedom coexist, a nation of free people where each of us creates and realizes ourselves, a democratic republic where free people meet and become free.
Now is the right time to design such a future, the decisive moment to foster the collective dreaming of the community—that Kairos moment.
History with meaning is the history of freedom.
Ham Seok-heon interprets freedom as ‘doing it yourself.’
Freedom to do it yourself is life.
In history, each of us is free and alive.
Each of us is a living freedom that forges its own path by striving to move forward.
At the same time, each person's freedom is always a freedom that is conditioned by the existence of the other.
We are born as co-existence and live as co-existence.
Therefore, each cannot exist without the other.
I can't exist without you.
Only after I know you as you can I know myself as myself.
Therefore, our freedom blossoms on the premise of your freedom.
Without your freedom, there is no freedom for me.
All freedom is a freedom limited between you and me.
Freedom without a typewriter is abstract freedom, freedom against freedom.
If my freedom is true freedom, then it always embraces your freedom.
… … A democratic republic is a country created by free people meeting free people.
When the power of creation erupts in that space of freedom, each of us can blossom into our true selves.
The meaning of history that Ham Seok-heon worked so hard to call for was to create a country of free people who create and realize themselves.
The moment of Kairos is when, in light of the meaning of history, it becomes clear what we must do here and now.
The moment is light and snow.
When the light shines, the eyes open.
- Pages 20-21
How do citizens become subjects of history?
The courage and wisdom of citizens who protect democracy and create good politics
The book opens with an anecdote about Athens, which faced the Persian Empire's hundreds of thousands of troops, and after a heated debate over whether to fight or to close its doors and avoid war, Athens sought the will of the god Apollo, and gave the citizens the final authority to interpret the oracle, ultimately winning the war.
The introduction to the book describes the triumph and prosperity achieved by the collective wisdom of the citizens, and the golden age of Athenian democracy as a result, showing that the spirit contained therein, the essence of democracy in which citizens are the masters, is the core theme that runs through the book.
The author then mentions Politeia, a mixed system that combines the strengths of democracy and aristocracy, which Aristotle, who witnessed the rise and fall of numerous countries including Athens, suggested as the best political system, and emphasizes that the capabilities of citizens are a decisive factor in determining the success or failure of a country, not only in the ancient polis but also in the modern democratic republics that followed it.
When citizens' eyes on politics become clouded, democracy is bound to slip and fall off the path, and the message that it is ultimately the citizens who will be the ones to put a deviated democracy back on track is a cold awakening to the Korean citizens who were unable to stop the rise of the rebels but ultimately became the ones who drove them from power.
The people are the 'modern monarchs'.
Therefore, we can get closer to the true meaning of Machiavelli's 'reason of state' when we read it as the reason of the people rather than the reason of the monarch.
The people, the masters of the country, can resort to the ferocity of a lion and the cunning of a fox when the country is in crisis.
… …The dominance of dark forces does not last forever.
Darkness eventually brings light.
Who calls? The people call.
The people, the masters of the country, reject the darkness and bring in light by resisting it.
The people are the subject of history, practicing the dialectics of good and evil.
- Page 138
To prevent politics from collapsing, citizens, both as observers and participants, must develop the ability to discern between what is false and what is true, and to weed out lies.
Politics becoming politics depends on the citizens' ability to discern between the fake and the real.
… … Democracy is like a fragile vessel.
Without the political literacy to discern truth from falsehood, democracy cannot be strengthened, no matter how diverse opinions are expressed.
When blindness thrives in the name of opinion, democracy withers away.
- Pages 227-230
Korean society is returning to normal thanks to the combined strength of the brave citizens who rushed to the National Assembly building on the night martial law was declared and the wise citizens who guarded the plaza for months afterward and rebuilt the crumbling democracy.
The author calls this power 'the power of Eros.'
Borrowing from Socrates' words, "A human being who embraces Eros moves toward the beautiful and seeks to create good and excellent things within that beauty," we present a hopeful outlook that our citizens who embrace Eros will ultimately change the world and create a just nation.
The experience of Korean citizens, who rewrote the drama of seizing power, rebellion, and downfall by the forces of civil war into a drama of despair, resistance, and victory, speaks eloquently to the 'meaning of history.'
The author meticulously weaves together the numerous countries that have risen and fallen throughout history, the political systems they each adopted, and the development of political thought based on those experiences with the reality of today's Korea, presenting a rich narrative of the process by which citizens become the main actors of history.
This book, a unique achievement by author Go Myeong-seop, who possesses the deep and broad insight of a humanist, the keen eye of an intellectual who observes the field, and the penmanship of a writer who constructs rich narratives, will offer readers a new horizon of literary political criticism.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: November 24, 2025
- Format: Hardcover book binding method guide
- Page count, weight, size: 408 pages | 722g | 158*233*23mm
- ISBN13: 9791169814041
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