Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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A review of The Scent of Time: A Philosophical Essay on the Art of Lingering by Byung-Chul Han.

In this video, I discuss Han’s reflections on our experience of time, especially the loss of duration, continuity, narrative, and contemplation in modern life. Han argues that our problem is not simply speed or busyness, but a deeper fragmentation of time itself: a loss of form, direction, and the ability to linger.

I also connect Han’s ideas to broader questions about storytelling, history, attention, labour, contemplation, and the difference between a life driven by productivity and a life capable of pause, hesitation, and reflection.

Book:
The Scent of Time: A Philosophical Essay on the Art of Lingering
Byung-Chul Han
Translated by Daniel Steuer
Polity, 2017

Byung-Chul Han playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEonkI4Aq_u9D54iqdmx8Co5GgQJe1Lmj

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