(English) Humanities in My Hand: the Gate of Dream

In Seong, the hero of Humanities in My Hand: the Gate of Dream is a first grade student at middle school. However, the physical age does not matter and all of the readers of this book can be In Seong. It is because most adults might have passed through the period of the first grade middle school, some teenager readers may be in In Seong's age, and children will be in the future. In this sense, the authors says that we are all In Seong in Epilogue.

In this book, there appears various gate keepers ranging from Eastern philosophers such as Chuang-tzu and Lao-tzu, Western philosophers such as Socrates, Platon, and Nietzsche, scientists such as Galileo Galilei, explorers such as Columbus, to fairytale characters such as Alice and Oz. The philosophers in this book are not those who speak metaphysical philosophic terms in a serious manner but our neighbors who have casual conversation with In Seong.

This book never attmpts to infuse philosophical terms or concepts into the readers. With no information provided, there is no need to memorize anything. However, through the thinking pattern characterized with emotion and logic from the Western philosophy history, this book lets us learn a thinking system that allows us to fill our own thinking drawer. In addition, this book poses fundamental questions-for example, "who we are"-on human existence and tenaciously searches for the answers. This reflects the portrait of us who are embodied by In Seong. In this regard, this book is not only a required reading for teenagers but also a must-read for grown-ups who have yet to find where they go.

The author also says as follows in Prologue. "This book has a motto like this: a philosophy book for teenagers, which is also good to read for adults. We guess that adults know better than teenagers. However, this may be not the case for philosophy. Particularly in Korea, teenagers read more than adults because of several realistic circumstances. Therefore, it cannot  be said that grown-ups are more knowful about philosophy. Rather, grown-ups may have more preconceptions about it. I hope that grown-ups treat humanities without prejudice like teenagers do. In this regard, this book is a required reading for not only adults but also teenagers."

(French) Les humanités dans mes mains, la porte des rêves.

(Spanish/español) Humanidades en mi mano, la puerta de los sueños

En esta obra, no solo aparecen filósofos orientales como Zhuangzi y Lao-Tsé, sino también intelectuales occidentales como Sócrates, Platón y Nietzsche, científicos y exploradores como Galileo Galilei y Colón, y personajes de cuentos como Alicia y Oz como guardianes del pensamiento. Sin embargo, los pensadores no son los únicos que se expresan con términos filosóficos complejos que uno aprende de los libros. Es solo una foto de los vecinos que fácilmente intercambian conversaciones con Inseong, un estudiante de primer año de la escuela secundaria. El texto no tiene ninguna intención de inculcar vocabularios o conceptos filosóficos, ni proporcionar información, por lo que no es necesario memorizar. Sin embargo, les enseña sobre un “sistema de pensamiento”, que puede ocupar el volumen de nuestro propio “cajón de pensamiento” mediante el modelo de razonamiento de la historia de la filosofía occidental denominado “sensibilidad y racionalidad” Asimismo se busca de manera permanente respuestas a través de preguntas fundamentales de la existencia humana, como “¿Quién soy?”.

이 책에는 장자, 노자 같은 동양 철학자들뿐만 아니라, 소크라테스, 플라톤, 니체 같은 서양 철학자들과 갈릴레오 갈릴레이나 콜럼버스 같은 과학자나 탐험가, 게다가 앨리스나 오즈 같은 동화 속 주인공들도 생각의 문지기로 등장한다. 하지만 철학자들이라고 해서 우리가 책에서 배우는 그렇게 무게를 잔뜩 잡고 어려운 철학 용어만 말하는 사람들이 아니다. 그냥 중학교 1학년인 인성이와 대화를 쉽게 주고받는 우리 이웃의 모습일 뿐이다. 

이 책에는 철학적 용어나 사상을 주입하려는 시도는 전혀 없다. 정보를 주지 않으니 암기도 할 필요가 없다. 그러나 ‘감성과 이성’이라는 서양철학사의 생각 패턴을 통해서 스스로 자신만의 ‘생각 서랍’을 채워나갈 수 있는 ‘생각 시스템’을 알려준다. 또한 ‘나는 누구인가’와 같은 우리 인간 존재의 근원적 질문을 통해 끈질기게 그 답을 찾아 나선다.