Capitalism and the Death Drive Author: [Germany] Han Bingzhe Publisher: CITIC Publishing Group

Introduction · · · · · ·
What we call growth today is actually a kind of aimless cancerous spread. We are experiencing a frenzy of production and growth, like a death illusion. It pretends to be full of vitality, hiding the impending fatal disaster. Production is increasingly converging on destruction. "Man's self-alienation has reached a point where he can experience his own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure." Walter Benjamin's evaluation of fascism also applies to today's capitalism.

Capitalism is trapped by death. It is driven by an unconscious fear of death. The threat of death holds capitalism hostage to continuous accumulation and growth. This coercion produces not only ecological disasters, but also spiritual disasters. Destructive performance pressure combines self-affirmation and self-destruction. People continue to optimize themselves until they die. Unbridled self-exploitation leads to mental collapse.

Despite his ambivalent relationship with death, Freud was fully aware of the inevitability of reconciliation between life and death. The subconscious rejection of death must give way to a conscious acceptance of death: "Would it not be better to give death its due place in reality, in our ideas, and to allow the death that we have hitherto so carefully suppressed in our unconscious to make its presence known from time to time? This would seem not to be a progress but rather a certain regression, a regression; but it would also have the advantage of making our lives easier by correctly recognizing the truth."

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Han Bingzhe's Works (Volume 2)

Shanzhai: Deconstruction in Chinese Style (published in January 2023)

Shanzhai. Dekonstruktion auf Chinesisch.

Hyperculture: Culture and Globalization (to be published in January 2023)

Hyperkulturalität. Kultur und Globalisierung.

"Compromised Society: The Pain of Today" (published in January 2023)

Palliativgesellschaft. Schmerz heute.

Absence: East Asian Culture and Philosophy (published in July 2023)

Abwesen. Zur Kultur und Philosophie des Fernen Ostens.

Zen Philosophy (published in August 2023)

Philosophie des Zen-Buddhismus.

What is Power? (Published in July 2023)

Was it Macht?

The Disappearance of Ritual: The World Now (published in August 2023)

Vom Verschwinden der Rituale.Eine Topologie der Gegenwart.

Capitalism and the Death Drive (published in August 2023)

Kapitalismus und Todestrieb.

"A Contemplative Life, or Doing Nothing" (published in July 2023)

Vita contemplativa.oder von der Untätigkeit.

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Han Bingzhe's Works (Volume 3)

Ode to the Earth: A Garden Journey (to be published in January 2024)

Lob der Erde. Eine Reise in den Garten.

The Scent of Time: The Art of Staying (to be published in January 2024)

Duft der Zeit. Ein philosophischer Essay zur Kunst des Verweilens.

The Crisis of Narrative (to be published in January 2024)

The Krise der Narration.

【Expert recommendation】

Capitalism and the Death Drive continues the critique of the performance society, which is shaped by the trinity of neoliberalism, hypercapitalism, and the digital panopticon, excluding the total other, negativity, and even true love. Even if Han Bingzhe is really an outsider, he is talking about the inside story of contemporary people in developed societies. I would like to call his dominant tendency a new existentialism with a romantic color and a neoclassicism in the digital age - of course, this is a contradiction in itself.

——Han Donghui, School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China

【Editor's recommendation】

(1) Han Bingzhe is known as "a rising star in German philosophy". He returned to the humanistic and critical traditions of philosophy. Beyond academic philosophical research, he pioneered a new realm of philosophical writing. In the digital media era, he observed the real social situation and the human spiritual state. He is known as "a psychoanalyst in the Internet era" and "a guide to philosophical criticism in the big data era".

(2) He possesses both the romantic temperament of Koreans and the rational spirit of the German philosophical tradition. Han Bingzhe has a profound insight into contemporary society and sharp judgments, but his inner spiritual pursuit is a quiet, contemplative, aesthetically meaningful life form, which has "the delicacy and charm of an oriental philosopher."

(3) The writing style is like a philosophical essay, which is good at thinking and better at expressing. Han Bingzhe's works are concise and bright, "full of spirituality and sharp". The carefulness, meticulousness and sharpness of the Chinese translator also add a lot of color to the Chinese version.

(4) Reading Han Bingzhe has become a phenomenon around the world. Han Bingzhe's works have been translated into more than 20 languages. Many scholars, including French philosopher Alain Badiou, have responded to and praised Han Bingzhe. Badiou personally wrote the preface to his masterpiece, The Death of Eros, which was sincerely recommended by Professor Liu Qing of East China Normal University.

(5) Han Bingzhe and his works quickly found their admirers in the domestic academic community and among readers. After the publication of the first volume of Han Bingzhe's works, which consists of nine books (CITIC Publishing Group, 2019), experts and scholars from the fields of philosophy, art, political science, communication, literature, history, and sociology, as well as non-professional readers in the humanities and social sciences, responded positively and highly praised him, calling him "the philosopher on the subway" and "a new existentialist with a romantic touch."

(6) A relatively systematic and complete collection of Han Bingzhe’s works in the Chinese world (a total of 21 books). The second volume of Han Bingzhe’s works, which consists of 9 books, will be published in August 2023; the third volume, which consists of 3 books, will be published in January 2024.

(7) Capitalism and the Death Drive: Tracing the origins of key concepts in Freud’s psychoanalysis; analyzing the illusion of freedom of neoliberal performance subjects; and initiating a time revolution with a completely different meaning in the era of acceleration!

There are many theoretical resources for reflection and criticism of the ills of contemporary society, but Freud's psychoanalysis is almost as important and to the point as Marxism, helping us understand social conditions and their development trends as well as individual situations.

This book is a collection of essays, which briefly retells the themes covered in other books, such as the ennui society, the death of love, the disappearance of the other, sacred time, and the contemplative life. At the same time, it tells more about the author's own story, his refugee/immigrant identity, his deep love for German culture and language, and his expectations for the present and future of Germany. This allows readers to feel that he is a real thinker, not an alien who is detached from the world.

This book explains the connection between life and death instincts and capitalism, and in light of the current digital context, points out that today’s worship of transparency, together with digitalization and digital networks, brings special tasks and challenges to contemporary philosophy, which is instructive for reflecting on the paradox of social development in the era of acceleration.