(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?”.
