In this blog post, we explore how Osamu Dazai’s sense of deprivation, frustration, addiction, and suicide attempts influenced his literary world—particularly the creation of ‘No Longer Human’. The Life of Osamu Dazai Osamu Dazai (太宰治) was born on June 19, 1909, in Kanagi Village, Kitatsugaru District, Aomori Prefecture, in northern Honshu, Japan, as the tenth of eleven children...
The Timeless Relevance of Osamu Dazai’s Literature: Why Does ‘No Longer Human’ Still Resonate Today?
In this blog post, we will explore the linguistic charm of Osamu Dazai, his attitude toward “weak human beings,” and the reasons why his works continue to resonate with younger generations across generations, examining his works, life, and reception. The Timeless Relevance of Osamu Dazai’s Literature Osamu Dazai’s prose, which shines with the language of life he internalized to the point...
The Meaning of Hope and Dreams as Seen in Kang Jun-man’s ‘Even in the Quagmire, the Stars Shine’
In this blog post, I will reflect on life, dreams, and hope, focusing on the aphorisms found in Kang Jun-man’s *Even in the Quagmire, the Stars Shine*. Reflections on Life and Aphorisms We live a single life, experiencing joy, sorrow, love, and grief, and ultimately return to a handful of dust. Even if we ask ourselves whether we are spending each day meaningfully until the day we die...
Reading Kang Jun-man’s ‘Ask Your Soul’: A Guide to Happiness in 50 Life Aphorisms
In this blog post, I will briefly introduce Kang Jun-man’s ‘Ask Your Soul (Aphorisms for Happiness)’ and summarize my main impressions and the book’s key features. Writing Style and Structure While Kang Jun-man’s past writings were combative and direct, perhaps due to the weight of time, this book adopts a much softer tone—even using honorifics—that evokes a sense of the...
Kang Jun-man’s *A Dragon Must Not Rise from a Muddy Stream*: The Truth About the Republic of Power Abuse
In this blog post, we will examine the core arguments of Kang Jun-man’s *A Dragon Must Not Rise from a Muddy Stream (The Secret of the Republic of Power Abuse)* and explore the issue of power abuse in Korean society. Book Overview and Key Arguments Kang Jun-man, *A Dragon Must Not Rise from a Muddy Stream (The Secret of the Republic of Power Abuse)*. The author is a prolific writer...
How far can evolutionary psychology explain human behavior?
This blog post examines how much evolutionary psychology can explain human behavior, critically exploring the tension between innate and environmental factors. Through this, it considers both the explanatory limitations and potential of evolutionary psychology. Recently in Korea, social controversy has arisen over claims that high school textbooks should delete or reduce content related to...
Could rape be an adaptive behavior in human evolution?
This blog post explores whether rape could be an adaptive behavior for survival and reproduction during human evolution, from scientific and evolutionary psychological perspectives. To answer any question, one must first understand it clearly. “Is rape adaptive?” is no exception. While we need not debate what rape is, we must first clearly define what an adaptation is to answer this...
Can plants, microbes, and inanimate objects be treated with respect?
This blog post draws on Yuval Harari’s Homo Deus to discuss the subjective needs of plants, microbes, and inanimate objects and whether they deserve respect. In Homo Deus, author Yuval Harari takes a critical view of animal husbandry, arguing that it is an act of providing animals with what they need to survive and reproduce, while failing to fulfill their subjective needs. He argues...
Does evolution happen gradually or can it happen abruptly?
In this blog post, we’ll compare Dawkins’ and Gould’s arguments for evolution, and explore whether evolution happens gradually or abruptly. Darwin’s Table is a fierce debate between two of the biggest names in evolutionary theory, Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould. After a half-century of being criticized by creationism, evolutionary theory has become the...
Could advances in science and technology lead to the extinction of the human species?
In this blog post, we explore the impact of scientific and technological advances on the future of the human species and the possibility of extinction, based on the book Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. In the movie The Matrix (1999), humans in the future are grown like commercial crops by machines and artificial intelligence. As soon as they are born, they are placed in tiny tanks where they...