[The World on the Page] Why Do You Put Profit First?

"Morality Advances Even in Dark Times"
There Is No Democracy Built on Guns
The Folly of Actions We Must Not Take
Awareness of Moral Capacity Is the Mandate of Our Era

Sadly, this is an era of shamelessness. The principle of politics has become not feeling ashamed even after committing wrongdoings. With thick faces, they shout back, "So what?" and with dark hearts, they yell, "What of it?" Shamelessness and cruelty run rampant. The one who tried to neutralize the National Assembly by mobilizing the military insists it was a minor warning act. Those who sympathized and tried to drag the country back to the days of military dictatorship now stiffly raise their heads and incite others to do the same. I want to blindfold the children and wash their ears. Living as an adult in times like these is nothing but embarrassing. The wrongs were committed by the filthy, but the shame has become the burden of the good.

As the first book of 2025, I picked up Morality Advances Even in Dark Times (Open Books). The author, Markus Gabriel, a professor at the University of Bonn in Germany, diagnoses that our era suffers from a severe crisis of values. The three value standards supporting modern democratic countries?“freedom, equality, solidarity, and their realization through market economy”?are regarded as impossible dreams. Voices longing for authoritarianism, advocating discrimination, and accepting survival of the fittest are growing louder. The world is “increasingly moving away from the position that regards democratic constitutional states as value systems based on morality.”

Today, harsh slanders and ugly provocations have become highly profitable money-making tools. Extremists make huge profits simply by spouting conspiracy theories and spreading fake news. Demonstrations seem to have lost their democratic identity and are suspected of becoming a kind of fundraising business. Even chartering buses to transport people has turned into a lucrative business. When politics falls into the hands of merchants, sweet talk, backstabbing, greed, and selfishness become social epidemics. Politics driven by private interests divides people, spreads survivalism, and ultimately drives communities into civil war.

Some, exhausted by the chaos, are engulfed in nostalgia for authoritarian times and try to escape from freedom and its heavy responsibilities. They mistakenly believe that if they stop thinking for themselves and obediently follow orders in unison, problems will disappear on their own. Demagogues cunningly exploit their anxieties, praising dictators and inciting violence. But there is no democracy made with guns, axes, and ropes. The democracy of slaves is the same as tyranny without freedom. Democracy that makes us masters of our lives only works fully when each of us lives as free citizens, not as subjects who obey. Therefore, no power’s scheme that recklessly restricts freedom, damages equality, or hinders solidarity should be tolerated. We have the power to suppress the shamelessness of rulers and defeat sinister hearts.

According to Gabriel, every crisis contains not only the risk of conflict and collapse but also the opportunity to move toward a better society. The power to turn crisis into opportunity arises “when guided by moral insight.” “Only when we reflect more than before on what we ought and ought not to do for moral reasons can we improve social situations.” To do so, we must not first consider which words and actions are more advantageous to our side but ask, “Who are we as human beings, and who do we want to be in the future?” This aligns with what Mencius once said to King Hui of Liang: “Why do you prioritize profit? There is only benevolence and righteousness.”

When society as a whole is engulfed in moral collapse and confusion of values, it is very difficult to avoid falling for tempting demagoguery and persistently engage in self-reflection. Especially when a society is “fundamentally controlled by competition and struggles over distribution” and “such struggles can only be controlled through state control and surveillance,” it becomes even harder. However, the fundamental principle of modern civil society is autonomy. “Human nature is freedom,” so only we ourselves?not the state or corporations?can govern and control ourselves. In a world divided and fragmented as it is now, maintaining this belief requires even greater effort than before. This is why Gabriel emphasizes that “being aware of one’s moral capacity is the command of this era.”

Acting according to moral insight means realizing that life has meaning and value and living accordingly. Yet, each of us is unique. The self is different from every other person. We live with different knowledge, perspectives, experiences, and feelings, occupy different positions in social structures, and define the direction and purpose of life slightly differently. However, this difference does not prevent us from recognizing the existence of morality that we all must uphold together.

Morality divides “our intentional and rationally controllable actions” into three categories: permissible good actions, impermissible evil actions, and permissible tolerated actions. Mature citizens form communities by autonomously regulating their behavior through moral insight without relying on oppressive social institutions. Gabriel says, “The goal of a morally successful human society is to produce morally justifiable illusions that do not result in divisions among us as nations, cultures, and groups, as if bodies and foreign substances within them were in conflict.” In a dark era where hatred is normalized and distrust overflows, winning such shared illusions is difficult. Foolishness abounds, confusing permissible and impermissible actions, as seen in the recent martial law declaration.

However, we have an irreversible and universal value that all humans must follow and uphold?a moral compass that tells us what we ought to do, what we must not do, and what we must prevent. The mature recognize this and act rightly, while the despicable are misled by false illusions and stray down the wrong path.

Though the new year has begun, our society’s situation remains dark and chaotic. Yet, this does not make it impossible for us to judge what is right. Moral progress is about more clearly recognizing what we should and should not do. In a world where shamelessness runs rampant amid danger and crisis, only through this can we confront the darkness. It is time to show children that the righteous will prevail.

Jang Eun-su, Publishing Culture Critic