The Palliative Society. Pain Today

The Palliative Society. Pain Today

87 pages

Softcover

Genre: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Essay
Exactly 10 years after his world bestseller The Burn-out Society translated into over 35 languages, Han provides us with a new analysis of our modern societies

Today‘s world is dominated by algophobia, the fear of pain. Each painful state has to be avoided. Even painful love stories are suspicious. The tolerance to pain is decreasing rapidly. This Algophobia leads to a permanent anaesthesia. Like in his essay The Burn-out Society, Byung-chul Han analyses an essential change of paradigms of our society. Even psychology is following this trend and moving away from the negative psychology as psychology of suffering to a positive psychology, which has to do with well-being, happiness and optimism. Han‘s new essay shows how this algophobia is translated into our society. Very little room is left to conflicts and controversies that could lead to painful confrontations. Algophobia has also an effect on politics. The constraint of conformity and the pressure of consensus are increasing. A post-democratic society is spreading. It is the palliative society. The essay covers the actual results of the American drug crisis and the Corona pandemic that shows how this palliative society proves to be also a society of survival. 

German title: Palliativgesellschaft - Schmerz heute
ISBN: 978-3-95757-269-1
Publisher: Matthes & Seitz Berlin
Publication date: 2020
Print run: 3
Series: Fröhliche Wissenschaft Vol. 169
Sold to: Greece, China, Romania, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Hungary, Sweden, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Brazil, Spain, France, Italy, South Korea, United States

Sample translation

English translation available

“The Korean-born philosopher is one of Germany‘s most radical thinkers. His books are unusually short, substantial and rich.“
ZDF