Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.

Feelings of burnout and boredom have become prevalent in modern life.

To understand the roots of and solutions to these issues, we can turn to both ancient

philosophers and contemporary thinkers.

Among the latter is Korean German philosopher Biong Chul Han, whose thought-provoking analyses are gaining increasing recognition. If you're not yet familiar with Han's philosophy,

Stephen Nepper, a professor at the Virginia Military Institute and the co-author of a new critical

introduction to this modern philosopher's work, will take us on a tour of some of

Han's key ideas. In the first part of our conversation, Stephen impacts Han's concept of the

Burnout Society and why so many of us feel tired from participating in what he calls

auto-exploitation and positive violence. We then discuss how our burnout society is also a pallid of

society that tries to avoid suffering at all costs and how our obsession with health has turned us into a modern version of Nietzsche's last man.

We enter discussion with some of Han's ideas for resisting the pitfalls of modernity,

including embracing ritual, contemplation, and an openness to the mystery of others.

After the show's over, check at our show notes at AOM. I.S. slash pawn.

All right, Stephen Nipper, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me. It's honored to be here. So you co-authored a book about a modern philosopher that I've been seeing more and more of in my readings.

This guy named Biong Chul Han, he's a German-Korean philosopher.

For those who aren't familiar with this guy, who is he and why am I seeing him more

and more in my philosophical reading? Yeah, he is popping up everywhere today on the internet,

on social media. So, Bionchuhlhan, he is a Korean-German philosopher, as you said. He was born in

Seoul, Korea. He's living. I think that's important to point out.

He's continuing to write all the time. So he's very much a thinker on the move. He's born in

...