The Topology of Violence. Critique of the Positive Society of Late Modernity

In this essay, Byon-Chul Han, addressing the views of the prominent thinkers of the 20th century who were interested in the topic of violence, outlines a symptomatic picture of the global capitalist society of the 21st century.

Han suggests seeing the history of violence as a cascade of continuous transformations. Today, within each of us coexist the executioner and the victim, and violence itself becomes positive, merging indistinguishably with its opposite — freedom.

Can we consider efficiency and productivity, which everyone aspires to in the highly competitive labor market, as violence? Is the luxurious lifestyle of a successful person a form of self-violence? What can one do to become healthier and happier? Like any good philosophical book, «The Topology of Violence» offers a sufficiently broad perspective to pose these questions and attempt to find answers.