New Essay "Kim Hyungseok, A Legacy of One Hundred Years" Released
"Love is not something to be taken. It is something to be given. When you share love with more people, that love endures forever."
"Schools run like conglomerates, hospitals focused on making money, and financial institutions chasing profits all undermine the social and economic order. A society that enjoys wealth while turning away from the family next door suffering from poverty and hunger does not deserve to enjoy that wealth."
"Even if you must turn stones into bread, you must escape from absolute poverty. However, the economy is neither the entirety of human life nor its ultimate goal."
Professor Kim Hyungseok, the world’s oldest author certified by Guinness at 106 years old, reflects on Korea’s historical moments. With wisdom and insight accumulated over the years, he diagnoses the present era and, as the most respected elder of this time, offers warm encouragement and comfort to anxious young people about their future.
This book embodies the weight of the time he has lived and serves as the ultimate conversation left at the end of a century of contemplation. He weaves together philosophy and religion, life and death, society and community into a single train of thought, striving to restore the 'dignity of humanity' that this era has lost. Having transformed times of confusion and pain into insight, he calmly and resolutely answers the question, "What does it mean to live a truly human life?" He sees death as the completion of life and solitude as the source of reflection, presenting a path for humanity that begins with the individual’s inner self and expands to society and the community. Professor Kim Hyungseok’s profound message, "Never forget gratitude, and uphold humanity and goodness until the end," ultimately translates the value of 'love' into both a personal and communal duty, as well as the ultimate ethic of life.
Professor Kim Hyungseok is Korea’s oldest philosopher and essayist. Born in 1920 in Unsan, North Pyongan Province, he grew up in Songsan-ri, Daedong County, South Pyongan Province, and experienced liberation in his hometown. He graduated from the Department of Philosophy at Sophia University in Japan. After defecting from North Korea in 1947, he worked for seven years as a teacher and vice-principal at Seoul Central Middle and High School. He served as a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Yonsei University, as a research professor at the University of Chicago and Harvard University, and as a first-generation philosopher in Korea, he laid the foundation for Korean philosophy and nurtured future scholars. He is currently an emeritus professor in the Department of Philosophy at Yonsei University, actively engaging in lectures, broadcasting, and writing.
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