Expulsion of the Other

Byung-Chul Han is a Korean-born Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Studies who teaches at the University of the Arts (UdK) in Berlin. He is the author of more than twenty books including The Scent of Time, Saving Beauty and The Burnout Society.

“No other philosophical author today has gone further than Byung-Chul Han in the analysis of our global everyday existence under the challenges of electronically induced hyper-communication. His latest - and again eminently readable - book concentrates on the "Terror of Sameness", that is on a life without events and individual otherness, as an environment to which we react with depression. What makes the intellectual difference in this analysis of sameness is the mastery with which Han brings into play the classics of our philosophical tradition and, through them, historical worlds that provide us with horizons of existential otherness.”Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Albert Guérard Professor in Literature, Stanford University“The new star of German philosophy.”El País“The Expulsion of the Other has the classic Byung-Chul Han 'sound,' an evocative tone which powerfully draws the reader in. ... With imperturbable serenity he brings together instances from everyday life and great catastrophes.”Süddeutsche Zeitung“Han's congenial mastery of thought opens up areas we had long believed to be lost.”Die Tagespost“Accessible and stimulating analysis”Metapsychology“If I had to choose an architectural style to represent the texts of Byung-Chul Han, it would be Brutalism. The simplicity of his style can strike one’s mind with an unexpected gravity.”Spectator: Journal of USC Cinematic Arts“The erotic charm of Han’s diagnosis consists in his refusal to accept the present world for what it is. He thereby reminds the reader of what it could be. The condemnation of our zombie life is occasionally naïve, sometimes mysterious and often surprisingly revitalizing.”Shanghai Literary Review

• The Terror of the SameThe Violence of the Global and TerrorismThe Terror of AuthenticityAnxietyThresholdsAlienationCounter-bodyGazeVoiceThe Language of the OtherThe Thinking of the OtherListeningNotes