The Italian publishing house "Notitempo" has launched a new edition of the book \Topologia della violenza Nuova edizione (Topologia della violenza Nuova edizione*) by the prominent South Korean thinker and philosopher Byung-Chol Han**.
The book comes in 180 pages, translated by Simone Aglan-Bottazzi, to monitor the profound transformations that have occurred in the concept of violence in the modern era, and how it has transformed from visible physical practices into internal tools of psychological pressure.Hahn's thesis stems from the changing nature of violence. It changes its shape, adapts to the social and political context, and works intelligently even when we think it has disappeared. The book first reviews violence in its historically “apparent” forms: blood violence and sacrifice, the absolute power of the ruler, gas chambers, and offensive language. This type represents an “excess of negativity” because it requires direct confrontation and tension between two parties (I and the other).But in our current era, with the dismantling of these contradictions and the disappearance of traditional distinctions, physical violence seems to have disappeared. The philosopher explains that what actually happens is that violence moves to the psychological level to operate within the human self itself.
Surplus positivity and voluntary slaveryThe book describes contemporary violence as an “excess of positivity” manifested in overachievement, production, constant communication, and hyperactivity. The disaster lies in the merging of this violence with the concept of freedom. In the “achievement society,” the individual finds himself free from external restrictions, but becomes a victim of himself and the pressures he has adopted internally.
Hahn concludes his analysis with a shocking statement that sums up the scene: “The history of violence reaches its climax when executioner and victim, master and slave, freedom and violence coincide” within the body and mind of modern man.
